Hey Diddle Diddle
by macawtopia
Summary: Lily & James are in their final year and they still can't stand each other; he is still hurting from when she rejected him but is too arrogant to show it and she is too proud to admit that she might have been wrong about him…
1. Prologue: The Two New Heads

_Two weeks before the first day of the Semester, at Hogwarts_

"Blood Pop?" She asked using the sweetest voice she could muster.

The gargoyle didn't move.

"Lemon Drop?"

Nothing happened.

"Oh for goodness sakes _move_!" This time the gargoyle gave her a cheeky wink. And that was the last straw.

With a great _humph_ Professor McGonagall pulled back the long emerald sleeves of her robes, kicked the stone beast, and was turning around to storm off when she saw Professor Dumbledore skipping down the hall towards her, singing

_Hey diddle the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon…_

Then, thank goodness, he noticed her and stopped mid- skip. "Ah, Professor, can I help you with something?"

"Well, actually Dumbledore, I was just going to your office to pick up the Gryffindor Prefect badges, you know how I like to mail them personally…"

Dumbledore's clear blue eyes glinted, "Don't lie to yourself Minerva, we both know that the real reason you wanted to see the badges was to find out whether or not the Heads I selected this year were from Gryffindor House."

At this comment, Professor McGonagall began to look rather flustered, and said, "Well, no I just… I'd have had no trouble waiting to find out if…oh _all right_ then, it's true! Last year _neither_ of the Heads were Gryffindors, and I truly do believe that the best students for the post this year are in my House and…"

Here McGonagall paused to look at Dumbledore beseechingly, "And, well, _you_ were in Gryffindor too, were you not? It's only fair that you select at least _one_ Gryffindor as a Head this year."

Dumbledore smiled, his bright eyes twinkling, "Very well then."

He turned to his gargoyle and said, "Maple tafee", causing the stone creature to leap to action, and out of the way.

"Come along then, Minerva" Dumbledore called over one shoulder as he boarded the escalating stairs to his office, "You have several badges to look at, do you not?"

Professor McGonagall rushed in behind him. _Several?_ That had to be a good thing.

When she entered the office, Professor McGonagall noticed that things had changed slightly over the summer; Fawkes was at his peak season -his red and gold feathers glowing and a proud air about him, the claw-footed headmaster's desk looked freshly polished, and sorting hat was wide awake and grinning at her.

McGonagall also noticed that a neat stack of badge- bearing letters was sitting on a small golden table in the centre of the room, and two matching chairs sat ready beside it.

Dumbledore promptly plopped himself down in one of them, and gestured for McGonagall to join him. "Let's start with the prefects, shall we?" he began, "Here you are Minerva, they are, Franklin Peakes and Anne Worthington."

McGonagall almost smiled. Peakes was a very kind and likable student, who had joined the House team as a beater in his second year, and Worthington was a very bright and industrious girl, who was the best in all of her classes, excepting potions and charms.

"And the Quidditch captain this year is?" McGonagall asked, knowing full well that it would be Potter. She hadn't seen a chaser like him in years, and was actually in awe of his skill, not that she would _ever_ let him know that.

Dumbledore's lips twitched in amusement, "Sirius Black"

"_What! _I'd thought for sure that it would be..."

Dumbledore cut her off, "Potter will have more that enough to do this year without recruiting Quidditch players I can assure you." McGonagall opened her mouth to ask what exactly Potter could _possibly_ have to do, besides annoying her at every possible opportunity, when Dumbledore handed her the final two envelopes, quietly saying, "I believe that it would be best if you looked at these ones yourself."

Professor McGonagall took the envelopes from him, feeling almost giddy. Two envelopes, _two_. That could only mean one thing. _Both Heads would be Gryffindors this year!_

Hands shaking, McGonagall read the first envelope. It was addressed to one Lily Jane Evans, and this came as no surprise to McGonagall whatsoever. She had known from the first time she had seen Lily that the girl would go far.

After all, the first time she had really noticed Lily Evans was in the girl's first ever Transfiguration lesson; the girl had known so much already that McGonagall could have let her teach the class instead.

The corners of her mouth curled up slightly as McGonagall put the first letter back on the table, and looked at the other. She read the name on the second letter. Then she read it again, not quite believing her eyes. Then she read it again. She could feel her heart pounding faster than usual, just from the sheer shock of it all.

There, written in Dumbledore's neat slanted script and green ink pen, was the name James Terrence Potter.

The same James Potter who was in almost _every_ fight which occurred at the school The same James Potter who never bothered studying or paying attention in class because he could ace the tests either way. The same James Potter who, at the end of the last school year, had enchanted all of the books in the school library to fly around and bop Slytherins and Professors on their heads while shrieking things like, "It's the last day, so throw us away!" and "You're a stupid stinky slimy gritty awful nasty SLYTHERIN!"

It had taken days to recapture and un-charm all of the books, and no evidence had been found to incriminate either Potter or Black.

"Professor, are you quite alright? You look rather ill" Dumbledore said politely. "I'd be happy to fetch Madame Pomfr-"

But Professor McGonagall cut him off, "You chose_ Potter_? Why? Lupin is far more studious, he'd be a _much_ better influence for the first years. Merlin, Abbot would do a good job too. But _Potter_?"

"Actually Minerva, if I may be so bold, I believe that Potter would do a better job than either of them. True, he will not be your _typical_ head boy, but I believe that he will become mature enough to do a good job."

"You believe that _Potter_ will become mature?" McGonagall said with a doubtful tone.

"Yes, I do" was all Dumbledore said.

"Alright then" McGonagall said, still unsure about the appointment of James, but unwilling to challenge Dumbledore's decision. "I'd better go the Owlery and have these delivered."

McGonagall turned to leave, but when she had reached the stairs she turned back and said, "Are you _sure _about Potter, Dumbledore?"

He nodded and said, "Dear Minerva, if I were any surer about Potter's capabilities, he would have had your job by now."

His placid smile and twinkling eyes caused Professor McGonagall to tighten her jaw: "Very well."

The, she turned on her heel, and stalked off to the Owlery to deliver the letters, while Dumbledore chuckled softly after her.

*""*

Thanks for reading =]


	2. The Head Boy

A Week Before the First Day of Hogwarts

"Get _up_ James, get up now!" screeched an irate Mrs. Potter.

"Mmmmph?"

"James, Sirius woke up an hour ago!"

"Mmmhmm."

"YOUR HOGWARTS LETTER IS HERE!"

This comment finally managed to get James out of bed: Not so much because James particularly cared about his Hogwarts letter, but because his mother had shouted this information rather loudly into his ear, and all he could now hear was a faint ringing sound.

"_Finally_ you're up dear. Good."

James only blinked at her. Through his bleary, glasses-less eyes, James could _just_ make out his mother's exasperated expression, but her ensuing words were lost on him: "Well, don't just look at me like that, go downstairs and eat your breakfast before it gets any colder! And dear, I'm afraid your letters are not actually here yet, but they _are_ arriving today, and I had to wake you up _somehow_."

James blinked again. Knowing his mother as well as he did, James figured that she _must _have been saying something about either breakfast or his hopeless hair… but there was no way of knowing which one it was. So, he simply nodded at her and started getting ready to head downstairs. After he had finished, James felt no more awake and the ringing noise _still_ hadn't abated.

Upon reaching the kitchen, he saw his best friend already at the table and stuffing himself with eggs and toast. It took a few moments for Sirius to stop eating long enough to notice James, but when he did, he grinned and said something along the lines of, "Gut muney sweefygut."

James blinked, "What?"

"Gut muney sweefygut!"

"WHAT?"

"GUT MUNEY SWEEFYGUT!"

"WHAT?"

Then Mr. Potter, who had up till now been enjoying his morning coffee and the Daily Prophet, decided that this had gone quite far enough. With a little sigh, he put down the paper, got up, walked over to his son and stuck his wand in James' ear. Then, in a clear, loud voice he said _Emenedio_ causing a blue spark to shoot into James's left ear, and come out the right.

James smiled. The ringing noise had finally stopped!

"Now then, James, Sirius here was just saying 'good morning sleepy head,'" explained a half amused and half annoyed Mr. Potter.

James gave a sheepish smile, "Oh."

Sirius rolled his eyes, "Prongs, have I ever told you that you are the most challenged person I know?"

James grinned, "No dear Padfoot, you haven't, but believe me; I am quite flattered that you think so."

"You are?"

"Yes, I am. You see, when a _truly_ challenged person calls another person challenged, it means that said person is actually a genius."

"So, what you're saying is that I'm challenged and you're a genius."

"Exactly! I'm so _proud _of you Padfoot; I didn't think that you'd be able to figure that out!"

"Prongs, you're lucky your parents are here, otherwise you'd have been nothing but a pile of_ dragon chow _by now."

Mr. Potter put down his newspaper and gave Sirius a reprimanding look, causing James to laugh loudly; Sirius was going to get it now.

"Mr. Black," he started sternly, "you came to us in a time of need, and so we allowed you the privilege of staying with us and living like _family_, and -"

Sirius cut him off, sounding nervous, "I'm sorry sir, I didn't mean -"

"Let me finish son. You've been staying with us all summer, and you _still_ don't know that you absolutely have our permission to turn James into dragon chow? I am _ashamed_ of you." Mr. Potter tried to keep his expression angry, but then he caught a glimpse of his son's abashed face and burst out laughing.

Sirius began to laugh too, "I'm terribly sorry, sir. Next time I want to beat your son black and blue, I will _not_ hesitate to do so."

Mr. Potter nodded sternly, "And don't forget it."

Sirius turned to James, who was currently giving his father a puppy-dog pout. "Anyways Prongs, I guess we're getting our letters today. Are you excited?"

"Oh yeah, school book lists, required potion ingredients, who wouldn't be excited?"

"You know what I mean." Sirius grumbled. He knew fully well that his best friend hoped to be the new Quidditch Captain (the old one had graduated the year before) _and_ that James had been constantly worrying about it for the past few weeks.

"Oh_, that_." James said sheepishly, "Well, you know how it is… they may or may not pick me, and I don't really care. I mean, there are _plenty_ of other great players on the team, right? And who knows, some first year could come along and show us all up…"

Sirius smirked, rolling his eyes: "Oh, who are you kidding, Prongs, you…" but then he stopped mid-sentence and his grey eyes went wide. Rushing across the room to the kitchen window, he exclaimed "Oh Merlin, there they are, _the letters_!"

James practically jumped a foot in the air, and he bolted to join his friend by the window. Wiping his glasses off on his shirt, and then straining his eyes to see better, he demanded, "_Where_? I don't see any owls. WHERE ARE THEY AND WHERE IS MY _BADGE_!"

Laughing at James' antics and backing away from the window, Sirius shook his head, "I was _just kidding_ Prongs, I didn't see anything. And you look awfully wound up there for a person who _doesn't care_…" His voice dripped with sarcasm.

James sighed, giving in, "Alright Padfoot, you win. I _am_ freaking out about this, and I _want_ to be captain, badly. Can we change the topic now?"

Sirius grinned, "No."

Still, they did manage to get off of the topic for a while, and settled for a game of wizards chess in the library. James had just made a nearly fatal error with his bishop when Mrs. Potter's muffled voice came down from the upper floor: "Boys, I think that I can see the owls headed this way, and they look as though they are rather weighed down this year..."

James and Sirius looked at each other, both caught slightly off guard, and then they ran up the stairs to retrieve their letters. They found Mrs. Potter sitting by the upstairs hall window and sure enough, two tawny owls carrying two fat envelopes were approaching rapidly.

Sirius smiled with anticipation, and James clenched his jaw, staring unwaveringly at the owls.

The first owl to soar through the hall's ornate window frame was addressed to Sirius, and he tore it open without any hesitation, scanning through the spell books and required materials lists. Then he let the other contents of the letter spill out into his hand. To Sirius's surprise, there was a small handwritten note from Dumbledore at the top.

_Dear Mr. Black. _

_We are pleased to inform you that due to you dedication and skill; you have been made this year's Gryffindor Quidditch Captain!_

The rest of the letter was just some rubbish about responsibilities and penalties if Sirius messed up. He skimmed over it and then looked at the shining red and gold badge in his hand.

_Yes_! _He was Quidditch captain!_

_Oh no, he was Quidditch captain. What about Prongs?_

Sirius tried to force the proud grin off of his face as he turned to face James, who was holding a similar looking badge and letter with a look of pure shock on his face.

_What, had they chosen two captains this year?_

"Er, Prongs?"

James just nodded, as he felt unable to talk.

"What's that badge for?"

Wordlessly, James turned his badge around to face Sirius and his mum.

There, engraved on the golden badge in James' hand, were the initials _HB_.

"Oh my… My son's _head boy_!" Mrs. Potter exclaimed. She then proceeded to pounce on James, and covered him in a shower of kisses and a large hug.

Sirius just stared. "Say something, mate." James pleaded weakly, from somewhere in his mother's arms.

Sirius blinked.

And blinked again.

And stared some more.

Then he threw back his head and began to howl with rather maniacal laughter, and the only words James managed to make out between snorts were "_Head Boy! You? Dumbledore! Nutter!_ and _Off his rocker_!"

"God da- _er _I mean, _diddle_, Prongs" Sirius said after he had finally stopped and regained his breath, "I can't believe they chose _you_."

Mrs. Potter shook her head at Sirius. She knew how close he had just been to swearing, but she couldn't help but smile inwardly at Sirius's use of the word 'diddle'. When James had been younger, he had often used that word in place of bad words, so he often ended up saying things like, "Mum, you're such a…such a… _diddle_!" and "That's the _diddliest _thing I have ever heard." Then, shaking her head at how far the word had spread, Mrs. Potter went down to tell her husband about the good news.

When Sirius was positive that Mrs. Potter was out of earshot, he whispered, "Well, what d'you reckon happened? Has the old man finally lost his marbles?"

James shook his head dejectedly and looked at the golden badge in his fist, "I don't know mate, I don't know."

*""*

So, there's the Head Boy done, now it's time for, drum roll please... LILY EVANS!


	3. The Head Girl

Same Date as Before, Children

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Lily Evens opened her eyes and stretched, yawning. She turned off her alarm clock, which was displaying the time 6:00, and she looked at the calendar she had pinned above her bed. That day's date was starred for some reason, so Lily rubbed the tiredness out of her eyes and leaned in to read it.

_Hogwarts Letter Arriving_

Today? It was arriving today? _When_! Lily leapt out of bed to with even more enthusiasm than usual to complete her morning routine: stretching, showering (this included washing her hair and religiously exfoliating every second day), brushing, flossing, moisturising and combing her long, dark red hair.

When she had finished, she ran downstairs for breakfast. Petunia wasn't up yet, so it was just her and her parents. This made her smile as she said, "Good morning!"

"Good morning Lily." Her mother greeted, "Any particular reason why you're so hyped up today?"

Lily beamed even wider, and then tried to hide it, "It's nothing really, it's just… my Hogwarts letter is arriving today."

Lily's dad, who knew his daughter very well, knew exactly what she was hinting towards. Still, he asked, "And you're hoping for a special surprise in yours, is that it?"

"Well yes." Lily replied, blushing, "Last year Professor McGonagall - she's my transfiguration teacher and my house head remember? Well, she implied that I _might _be chosen as Head girl. And I think she might have been right… I mean, I worked hard for it! I was _never_ late for a single prefect meeting, I took my responsibilities seriously, and I even…"

Lily's father cut her off, "I'm sure you did dear. But don't raise your hopes up _too_ high, and celebrate now. You can start celebrating after the Head girl badge is in your hands."

Sighing, Lily said, "You mean _if_ the Head girl badge ends up in my hands."

Mr. Evans shook his head and winked at his daughter, "Nope, I mean _when_. Now, I really must be going, or I'll be _late_ for the first time in my life. Goodbye dearest."

Mrs. Evans began to pout, "What about me?"

Mr. Evans chuckled, and gave her a quick peck on the cheek, "Goodbye, my _other_ dearest." And with that he left for his office, waving as he went out the door.

Lily waved back, as she did every morning, and then scoured the kitchen cupboard for her cereal. As she sat down with her BRAN BITES, Lily found herself unable to tear her gaze from the window. She had never felt so restless, and silently willed the owl with her letter to fly a little faster as she subconsciously shifted her cereal around the bowl with her spoon.

"Anxious, dear?"

It didn't occur to Lily to lie: "Yes, mum."

"Don't be, even if you don't make it, you'll still be the best student at the school."

"You don't understand mum," Lily said, exhaling deeply, "I _want_ to be Head girl, _badly_."

Mrs. Evans had just opened her mouth to reply when a horrible shriek came from above them.

"Petunia!" Without a moment's delay, they both rushed upstairs to see what was wrong, and found the blonde in her room, looking at a beautiful light pink dress with a horrified expression.

"What's _wrong_ Tuney?" Lily asked. She knew that Petunia hated her, and that she would most likely ignore her, but she couldn't help but express her concern, in the hopes that her sister would confide in her.

She was let down. Petunia strode right past Lily and addressed their mother, "Mum, I was going to wear this dress when I went out with Vernon tonight, _but there is a stain on the front_!"

Mrs. Potter took the dress from her daughter's hands and inspected the stain, frowning slightly. "It looks pretty bad dear, can't you wear something else?"

"No! I can't! He is taking me to Café Horatio, and they have _light pink_ walls! Nothing else I own goes with those walls!"

Here Lily could not help but roll her eyes, and unfortunately for her, Petunia noticed.

"What, it's not _my _fault that you never have to worry about what to wear." She snarled at her, "Just because no one ever notices _your _clothes doesn't mean that my boyfriend won't notice _mine_."

Lily threw her hands in the air, "Petunia, I didn't even _say _anything." She had planned to leave it at that, but couldn't resist adding, "And for the record, I never realised that Dursley took such an active interest in your fashion choices. He doesn't really seem capable of taking an active interest in _anything_."

Petunia's eyes narrowed to slits in a death glare, "Alright, that _does it_. Just because _you_'ve never had a boyfriend doesn't mean that you can make fun of mine. Who would ever want to go out with a _ketchup headed_ freak like you?"

"At least when I _do _go out with someone, it won't be a fat ugly _walrus_! _I'm_ not as desperate as you are." Lily retaliated. Sweet tempered as she usually was, her sister was one of the only two people who managed to aggravate her, and when Lily got mad, she got furious.

"Yes, you _are_ as desperate as me, more in fact. But sadly, no one wants you," Petunia spat.

"Better no one than a ... a _diddle _like Dursley!" Lily was in a real temper now. Not only at Petunia, but at herself. His word! She had used Potter's _stupid _word! The one she had vowed that she never would use, no matter how popular it became.

Petunia was mad too, so she hit Lily with the one weapon which wounded her worst, "You know what Lily, I simply don't care what you think, because you're nothing but a freak. Just a horrid _freak_!"

These words, couple with the look of utter disgust her older sister fixed her with, were too much. Lily felt a tear roll down her cheek before she could wipe it_. Why_ did Petunia hate her so much? _Why_? Lily turned on her heel, trying her best to look indifferent, and left the room.

She could hear her mother calling after her, and then trying to make Petunia apologize, but she knew that there was no point. Petunia would never get over the fact that Lily had become a witch, and she hadn't, and Lily was going to have to accept that.

Storming to the kitchen, Lily sat down and gazed out of the window again. Without even thinking about it, she began to count the number of cars which drove by. It was a game she had played on rainy days with Petunia when she was younger, and it always calmed her down. That was when she noticed a growing speck in the sky. Could it be? It was! A large tawny owl was approaching. It flew straight through her open window, and waited patiently on the sill while she untied the letter. Was she imagining things, or was it heavier than usual this year?

She tore it open, unable to wait a second longer, and saw a glint of gold. She was the Head girl.

Lily was thrilled for about a second, and then, somehow, it began to feel like a hollow victory. She felt that she would trade a thousand gold badges just to have her Tuney back.

Wiping her eyes, Lily went upstairs to tell her mother the good news while at the same time, trying to convince herself that it was, in fact, good news.

*""*

You know the drill guys, this is the part where you _review_!


	4. First Day of the Final Year Part One

September First: The First Day of Hogwarts

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Lily turned off her alarm clock, as she usually did, but unusually, she didn't bother looking at her bedside calendar. She knew exactly what day it was.

Lily leaped out of bed, and pulled on her favorite white shirt, green sweater with the ¾ sleeves and the warm pockets and jeans. She brushed, flossed, combed her hair and appraised her appearance in the bathroom mirror.

A girl with pale skin, a dusting of freckles, a small pointed nose and chin, and anxious, almond shaped green eyes (which were brought out even more than usual by her emerald sweater) stared back at her.

Lily grinned at her slightly worried-looking reflection, and then decided to do her hair up in a French braid. After all, it was the most elegant hairstyle she knew of, and she wanted to look impressive today.

Finally, after checking her watch and realizing that she was going to be late if she didn't stop preening herself, Lily grabbed the suitcase she had carefully packed the night before and went downstairs.

On her way, she heard a light snoring coming from Petunia's room. Petunia had stayed out all night with her suitor, Vernon, the night before, returning long after Lily had fallen asleep, and Lily knew that she would not bother waking up to wish her goodbye. In fact, Petunia had probably stayed out late just so that she wouldn't have to bother saying goodbye.

Then Lily realized that she had been standing outside her sister's room for too long, and left. Downstairs, Lily's mother and father greeted her, and took her luggage to their car. They ate a hurried breakfast, and then, just before they left, Lily excused herself, saying that she had to go to the washroom.

But she didn't.

Lily crept upstairs and silently opened her sister's bedroom door. She saw her that her sister truly was fast asleep, and showing no signs of waking, so Lily went over to her bed, and kissed her softly on the cheek.

"Tuney" Lily whispered into the darkness, "Tuney I'm going to my last year of Hogwarts now. Soon I'll be a true and independent woman. Aren't you proud of me Tuney?" Lily was on the brink of tears, but she refused to cry. Instead she quickly pulled her wand out, and conjured up a piece of paper. She pulled out the pencil she always kept tucked in her jeans pocket and scribbled a messy but sincere note to her sister.

_Dear Petunia,_

_I've left for my last year of school, and after this I'll be off to live on my own and find myself a job. But Tuney, that doesn't mean that you can just forget me. _

_How could you let our differences come between us? You know what I'm talking about. How can you start to hate me, the girl who you grew up with and who learned everything from you? How can you hate your Lily?_

_I know that we have stopped talking and even caring about each other, but we can never stop being sisters. So, I've left my owl, Merlin, behind with you, so please please, write to me. I love you Tuney, and I always will._

_Lily._

"Lily, hurry up! The train leaves at eleven, and it's almost ten fifteen!" came a faint voice from outside. So, Lily placed her note on her sister's desk, and rushed outside to begin her final year at Hogwarts.

*""*

"Padfoot, hurry up! You do know that I have to attend that prefects meeting with Moony, don't you?"

"Yeah, rub it in why don't you? You get to go hang out with Moony in a _special_ compartment, and I'll be stuck with Peter!"

James grinned at his miserable best friend, "Well, Padfoot, haven't you always said that we Marauders should be close? Like brothers? I guess it's time for you to get to know brother Wormtail! I'm sure you two will find out loads of new things about each other that you never would have known otherwise. Perhaps he will even show you the secret to snoring through your nose! It is his most remarkable talent after all…"

Sirius fixed James with a stare so frightening, that if an onlooker had seen them, they would have thought that he was about to kill him. "Prongs, get me into that Prefect meeting. Or you will never see another day on this bloody planet."

"Padfoot, Padfoot, Padfoot, you know that I can't do that! And if you don't want to spend some quality time with the snore-master himself, you could always sit in a compartment full of girls! I bet you ten galleons that any girls' compartment would be _more _than happy to have you!"

"James, you are a bloody –"

THUNK!

Sirius was cut of by Mr. Potter slamming their car's boot shut. "Come in boys, or I'll drive off without you!"

Sirius rolled his eyes, "Not likely."

"Stay outside much longer, and you'll see just how serious I am, Mr. Black"

James slid into thee back seat of the car and pulled Sirius in with him, saying, "I think he's _actually_ serious this time, Padfoot."

As the boys pulled out of the driveway, the last thing Mrs. Potter heard was, "Prongs, how can _he_ be serious when _I'm_ Sirius?"

Shaking her head, Mrs. Potter watched her family drive off, and wondered how she would ever manage to get along without their constant bickering, laughter and hugs.

*""*

Feeling happy, sad, excited and worried all at the same time, Lily waved goodbye to her parents and boarded the Hogwarts Express. She hurried to her usual compartment, and saw two girls already sitting there, waiting for her.

The first was a slightly plump, but beautiful and good natured girl with straight brown hair (complete with a fringe) and a shy smile. Alice.

The second was a thin, and slightly conceited looking Indian girl. She had thin, arched eyebrows, thick dark waves of hair, and beautiful smile, but anyone who knew her knew that she was _not _a force to be reckoned with. She was the Gryffindor seeker, and the toughest girl in the school, Geeta.

They were sitting in the compartment and trading Chocolate Frog Wizarding cards when Lily loudly cleared her throat to announce her presence.

Alice looked up at her beaming, and seconds later, she had engulfed Lily in a warm bear hug, exclaiming, "Oh, I've missed you Lily! I know that we exchanged letters and all that, but it just wasn't the same!"

Geeta got up up too, grumbling, "Alice, you'll have plenty of time to suffocate Lily later. Can we get back to the cards now, please? I'm only ten away from the whole collection."

Alice let go, and Lily grinned at her two best friends, "Lovely to see you, Geets, and don't worry, I missed you too"

Geeta couldn't help but smile, "You know I missed you Lily, I just don't enjoy crushing the people I miss half as much as Alice does."

Alice stuck her tongue out at Geeta, who's eyes were suddenly wide. Geeta pointed to Lily and said in a shocked voice, "Head Girl."

"Congratulations!!!"

Lily looked down at the badge she had carefully pinned to her shirt. It looked as impressive as ever, and it also reminded her that she was going to be late for her Heads meeting if she didn't leave. So, waving to her friends, she left the compartment and went down the hall.

The second Lily was out of ear-shot, Geeta burst out laughing. She laughed so hard that she had to clutch her sides and lean on the floor to keep from collapsing.

Alice looked at her, perplexed, "Geets, I thought you said that you knew Lily would end up Head girl?"

Between snorts of laughter, Geeta said, "I did."

Now Alice was truly confuzzled, "Then _why_ are you laughing?"

Geeta looked at Alice with a wicked gleam in her dark eyes, "What our dear Lily doesn't know, is that her _dearly beloved _is the Head boy!"

"Dearly beloved? But Lily doesn't have a, Oh..." Here Alice's eyes went wide with realization, "You don't mean..."

Geeta grinned evilly, "Yes, I do. James Potter is the Head boy."

Geeta doubled over laughing once more, and A_li_ce began biting her nails nervously, wondering how poor Lily was going to take this.


	5. First Day of the Final Year Part Two

I'm just going to warn you that this chapter is very long, and might not be quite what you expected...

*""*

Lily checked her watch, and hurried down to the familiar Prefects compartment. She smiled as she passed the nervous looking first years' section of the train, and walked a bit faster as she passed the Slytherins' part.

But she wasn't fast enough.

A sallow looking seventh year with oily black hair and a hooked nose intercepted her, and said in a very rehearsed tone, "Lily, I know that you didn't talk to me at all last year, and that I haven't been the best to you, but I really want us to be-" He stopped, at a loss for words. Then he opened his mouth to continue, but Lily didn't let him.

"Sev, you always say that you want to change and be my friend, but let's face it; you are part of a group that I, well that I despise and oppose. A group that hates me and all people of my blood, people who you call mudbloods." Severus flinched at the word, and Lily gave him a cold look, "Sev, you believe that discriminating against, and even _harming _muggleborns is right and I... I could never be friends with a person like you."

She turned to storm off, but a large hand came out of a compartment and grabbed her wrist, jerking her back. A gruff voice which didn't belong to either Lily or Severus said, "Look everyone, the Price caught his first mudblood! Won't his mommy be proud!"

Lily turned to face her tormentor, and saw Avery; a thick sculled, but large boy who was usually seen hovering around a creepy looking boy named Mulciber.

And sure enough, seconds later Mulciber emerged from a nearby compartment to join them. His eyes were fixed on Lily, and he hit her with a silent freezing charm, to keep her from escaping. She cursed, inwardly at her own stupidity. Snape had set her up. Lily fixed him with a death stare, and he gave her an apologetic look.

Mulciber approached Lily, his hate filled, bloodshot eyes meeting hers, and he said, "Hello, mudblood. Have a nice summer?" He laughed a cold laugh, "Did you read about what happened the other _little mudbloods_ while you were on holiday? They've been disappearing, you know. Slowly though, one by one. But don't fret, You Know Who's going to be killing them _much _faster soon. He's gaining power, and when he's got enough, you'll _all be gone_."

Lily took a deep breath, trying to keep his horrible words from entering her head. He was just trying to scare her, she told herself, and there was no way that anyone would really listen to a lunatic like You Know Who. She tried to move her right hand the few inches she needed to, to get at her wand, but it was impossible. She was trapped.

Mulciber smirked at her fruitless effort to get at her wand, and then he lifted his own and pointed it at Lily's throat, "Let's have some fun with this mudblood, shall we?"

"Mulciber, we should let her go. What if a teacher catches us?" Snape pleaded.

"Shut up, Prince. We're not all cowards like you. Do you want us to leave you all alone again? Do you want to be the loser no one talks to?"

Snape shook his head.

"I thought so", sneered Avery.

Suddenly, a streak of red light came out of nowhere, and disarmed Mulciber. His wand flew out of his grasp,and landed in the waiting hand of James Potter.

*""*

James had almost forgotten about the Prefects meeting because he had been absorbed in a game of wizard's chess with Sirius. He had only remembered it when he had noticed that Remus's seat had mysteriously become empty.

"Padfoot, Where'd Moony go?"

"Dunno, perhaps he went to the loo?"

"Naw, he always waits 'till we get to school."

"I th-think that he might have gone t-to the Prefects meeting." stammered Wormtail.

James' eyes widened and his face blanched, "Er, Sirius, what time is it?"

"Eleven twenty, why?"

"BLOODY HELL! I'm going to be late! McGonagall's gonna kill me!!" James yelled, and he took off down the hall, cursing at everyone who crossed his path or slowed him down.

Then, when he had almost reached the Prefect's compartment, he saw some Slytherins in the same year as him arguing in the hall. James had been on the brink of swearing loudly at them, when he noticed that Mulciber, a deathly pale wiry boy who was the leader of the mini-death eaters at Hogwarts and who knew enough dark magic to cause some serious harm if he were provoked, was pointing his wand at somebody's neck. And that somebody was Lily Evans, who, most unusually, was making no move to escape his grip. Actually, she wasn't moving at all.

Those bloody, death eater wanna be _diddles_ must have hit her with a freezing charm.

Quickly, James fired a silent disarming charm at Mulciber. James caught Mulciber's wand, and ran up to unfreeze Lily and disarm Snape as well, but Snape saw it coming and blocked him. What Snape didn't see coming was the Stupefy jinx Lily fired at him the moment James unfroze her.

Lily's spell hit Snape right in the face, and he fell over, cursing out loud. Mulciber bent down, as if to help him, but instead he stole Snape's wand, and stood in front of Lily and James, blocking their way to the Prefects meeting. Avery leapt up to join him, and then, once he was sure that he had the advantage, Mulciber sneered. "You're very lucky that Potty came to save you, you know that, mudblood? The Prince and I were going to try a new spell on you. The Prince taught it to me and it is a most _wonderful_ spell. A spell that rips flesh without a knife…_Sectesempra!_"

Lily screamed, but the spell didn't hit her. James leapt in front of her, and cast a powerful shield charm over them both. He glared at the Slytherins, and said, "Get lost, Mulciber."

When Mulciber sneered and opened his mouth to retort, James fired a quick Levicorpus jinx at him, and Mulciber was instantly hoisted into the air by his ankle. He flailed his arms in an attempt to reach Snape's fallen wand, but it was no use. James then turned to point his wand at Avery who, whimpering, ran back into his compartment.

James, still glaring at the Slytherin cowards, threw Mulciber's wand down on the floor so that Mulciber, who was still hanging in the air, couldn't reach it. He also returned Snape's wand to the unconscious figure on the floor. Then James stepped over Snape, and continued down the hall, with Lily on his heels.

"Potter, wait!"

"Yes, Evans?" James didn't want to, but he couldn't help but feel hopeful as he turned to face Lily. Officially, he had gotten over Lily when she had humiliated him at the end of their OWL's, in fifth year.

Unofficially, he had never gotten over her, and even now his breath caught in his throat when her beautiful emerald eyes met his. Was she finally going to forget their past and become his friend?

Lily wasn't sure what she should say. James' warm hazel eyes, golden-flecked eyes which could make any girl melt, were gazing into hers intently, waiting for her to speak.

"Er, thanks." Lily felt that she should say something more, to express just how scared she had been, and how thankful she was, but she knew that if she did, it would go straight to Potter's already inflated head. And, truth be told, Lily was far too proud to admit that she had been scared or that she truly was in debted to James, the boy she despised.

"No problem." James turned around to enter the Prefects compartment, but was stopped again by Lily, who had found her tongue.

"Wait a minute, Potter, where are you going? Isn't your usual compartment back there?" She gestured towards the back of the train.

"Yes it is, but so is yours, Evans. Where are _you_ going?"

"If you _must _know Potter, I've been selected as this year's Head girl." Lily tried to keep a proud grin from entering her features, but it was futile. The smile forced its way out, and she found herself beaming at Potter, another thing she had sworn she wouldn't ever do.

James couldn't help it. He burst out laughing. Lily was his partner! That should just make her day... James could just picture the look on her face when she realized that _he _was he Head boy.

"A simple _congratulations _would suffice, Potter", said Lily in a hurt voice. Just when she had started to find James halfway decent, he laughed at her. She hurried on ahead of James, in a effort to leave him, and because those horrible Slytherins had made her late.

"Oy, Evans! Where are you headed off to without your partner?" James called between laughs.

Lily stopped mid-step, and rounded on him, "What?"

With a growing smirk on his face, James pointed to the shining badge he had pinned clumsily to his robes.

Lily's eyes widened until they could widen no more. James was the Head boy? _James_? But why? How? He didn't' have _any _of the necessary qualities to become a Head. HE WASN'T SPECIAL ENOUGH!!! Lily had worked hard her _whole bloody life_ to earn the position of Head girl, and James...James didn't know the bloody meaning of hard work!

To make matters worse, Lily had _hated _James, ever since he had made fun of Sev and Slytherin in first year. What sort of Head was prejudiced against a house? Still a nagging voice in her head kept on saying… _James was just rude on the train because he had been raised to hate Slytherins. He doesn't anymore, he's even friends with some of them! Besides, even if he doesn't like most of them, doesn't he have good reason not to? Look at what Sev did to you!_

Lily shook her head to clear it of such thoughts. James was an arrogant toerag, who cared only for showing off and causing trouble, and those qualities did _not _make a good Head.

"Evans? You alright?" James grinned, "Is it really _that _shocking?"

Trying to keep her face as emotionless as possible, Lily turned away from him and said icily, "Yes actually, it is. Now can we go to the meeting? We are both _very_ late, and _I _want to make a good first impression as Head."

And she stomped off, leaving a very confused James behind her.

Things had been going so well, and then Lily just… Ah well. James sighed, and followed Lily into the Prefects compartment.


	6. The Meeting

**Chapter 6: The Meeting**

Professor McGonagall was pacing. The prefects meeting had been scheduled to take place _fifteen minutes ago_, and neither of the Heads had shown up yet! This would be the first Prefects meeting in all of Hogwarts History in which the Head students had been late. To make things worse, all of the prefects had shown up exactly on time, and they were snickering behind their hands at her, and checking their watches. One of them timidly put her hand up, and gazed shyly at McGonagall.

"Yes, Miss Worthington?"

"Are you sure the Heads are coming?"

Professor McGonagall sighed, "Yes, they are. They are the _Head students_, and Head students can _not_ be late or absent because they are the most_ responsible_ and _dedicated _students in the whole school."

A cheeky Slytherin prefect smirked at this, and said, "Then why aren't they here?"

Then, thankfully, Lily and James walked into the compartment, sparing McGonagall of having to reply.

Without looking at James, Lily said, "Terribly sorry I'm late, Professor, but there was a hold up."

James smiled slightly at Lily's choice of words. There _had _been a hold up…literally.

McGonagall frowned at him. "Well, don't let it happen again. Shall we begin?"

She spent the next half hour explaining the rules and responsibilities that the students would have as Prefects, and then left them all alone to get acquainted and go over anything she had missed.

The second McGonagall left, James started to grin. He turned to face Remus, and said "Ole whiskers looked like she was going to wet herself when we arrived. What happened?"

Lily's mouth dropped open in shock, and Remus's mouth twitched. "There were two things wrong with that statement, Prongs. One, now that you're a Head, you can't call McGonagall _whiskers_ anymore. You just can't, or at least not in public. Two, we're in a room full of prefects, and they're all staring at you. Say something useful to them, don't teach them nicknames."

"But nicknames _are _useful!! They show off your personality, and moreover, they're cool!" James looked around him thoughtfully. Then, he said, "Alright everyone, my name is James, but since you were awesome enough to get chosen as prefects, you guys have earned the right to call me Prongs. And this guy here, he's Moony. You shall all refer to him as Moony, and nothing else!"

"Potter, what are you doing?" Lily growled.

James assumed a plumy tone, and said, "Evans, I was merely teaching our young charges some_ valuable _skills which will help to amalgamate them, and get them all acquainted with one another."

Lily opened her mouth to inform James that he was a nutter, but James didn't give her the chance. "You there, what's your name?" he asked, pointing to a new prefect.

The shy, sixth year, Gryffindor girl looked surprised, and pleased at being addressed by James. "It's Anne Worthington, er…Prongs."

"Anne, do you have a nickname?"

"No."

"Hmm, alright…Well, do you know what form your patronous takes?"

"I can't cast one yet."

James stroked his chin thoughtfully. What sort of Gryffindor was this girl, anyways? She seemed shy, and she couldn't do advanced defensive magic. She was also a strict rule abider,_ that_ was obvious. "Alright, then what are your interests? Your talents?"

Anne shrugged, "I'm pretty good at Herbology, and I like to garden…"

"How about Leaf?" asked Remus.

Anne made a face, "No thanks."

James groaned, "Come on, it's perfect! For a plant related name, I mean. It isn't my fault that you had to go and choose the lamest-"

"Herbology is _not_ lame, alright? It's creating growth, life and beauty! It's also dealing with carnivorous plants, and plants with razor sharp thorns. So do _not _mock it." Anne's soft and shy face had transformed into a mask of ferocity, and hurt pride.

James smiled. There was that Gryffindor spirit he had been looking for. "Thorn"

"What?"

"Your name will be Thorn, because you're sweet like a rose, but _bloody_ dangerous when provoked. Plus you're a plant lover."

Anne smiled softly, "You know, I actually sort of like that name…Thorn."

Lily couldn't help but smile at Anne's beaming face. She looked absolutely thrilled at the name James had given her, and James was looking quite pleased with himself as well.

After Anne, James gave all of the other prefects nicknames. Even the Slytherins got into the spirit of it eventually, and within fifteen minutes, everyone in the room but Lily had a new name.

"What about her?" asked a Hufflepuff boy who had been named Ray for his bright, sunny golden hair and smile.

James turned to face Lily with a questioning look in his eyes. He was wordlessly asking her what he should say.

"I don't need a nickname. My name is Lily Evans, and that's what I want to be called." Lily said sternly. She was not about to join in one of Potter's silly games. "Well, now that that's over, let us discuss meeting times. We shall meet the first and last Friday of every month."

"Unless we inform you of an extra meeting, that is." James added.

Lily grimaced at being corrected, and then she tried to hide it. "That's right. Now, you can all go back to your compartments, this meeting is over."

The prefects happily obliged, and they left, tittering about their new nicknames.

"Er, Evans?"

"Yes, Potter?" Lily asked icily. She was feeling furious. First, Potter had made her late, and then he had wasted their whole meeting giving names to all of the prefects. This was supposed to have been _her_ year, she had worked hard to become the Head, and James…James had just gotten lucky. He was an irresponsible git who would ruin her year as Head.

"See you around?"

Suddenly, Professor McGonagall appeared in the room with them. She wore a disapproving expression, and narrowed her eyes at James. "Yes, you will be seeing Miss Evans around, Potter. Because both of you will be missing the Sorting ceremony to do some shelving in the library today. Punishment, for arriving late. Do _not _let it happen again."

"Yes, Professor" they said in unison. Satisfied, McGonagall left them.

Lily was feeling ashamed. This was not how she had imagined her first day as Head girl.

James, on the other hand, was angry. He had made important plans for this day! It was his last sorting ceremony for crying out loud! Sirius wouldn't be able to pull of their big, back to school prank without him.

Whiskers was going to pay for this one.


	7. Operation Revenge

I'm _so _sorry I took so long to update, but between exams, baseball, band, and writing another story simultaneously, I couldn't find a spare second for this story. Please don't hate me!

*""*

Lily was sitting in the Hogwarts library and sorting through old manuscripts, and she wasn't happy about it. If fact, she was feeling _furious_.

How could he? That darned Potter had _ruined_ Lily's year already. It was supposed to have been the _perfect _year! And then Potter had caused her to look bad in front of all the prefects, he had wasted their whole meeting with _blasted_ nicknames, after that he had corrected her, which made her look stupid, and then he had landed her a detention in the library. It was her first offence _ever_, and she was not happy about it.

Lily could feel James's apologetic gaze on her back as she worked, but she didn't turn around to meet his gaze. She wasn't interested in hearing an apology from him. Instead, she tried to tune out the loud cheers which she could hear coming from the Sorting Ceremony in the Great Hall, and shelve the books as quickly as possible.

*""*

"A History of Goblin Rights"

"Great Goblin Leaders"

"Would not a Goblin by Any Other Name Smell as Bad?"

"Bloody hell this is dull."

James yawned and turned to face Lily. She still wasn't looking at him, which he felt was hardly fair. After all, he _had _saved her from Mulciber and his gang, and _they _had made her late, not James. There was no way in the world that this could be considered _his _fault. Unless, of course, your name was Lily Evans.

James turned away from the unyielding redhead and tried to focus on more important things. Namely, how he could avenge the loss of his perfect back to school prank which Sirius and he had planned over the summer.

The master plan had actually been very simple, but Sirius couldn't pull it off alone. Its steps had been to…

1. Over the summer, concoct a special potion which ignited when it detected motion. The potion would spark up and fizz and bang loudly, while emitting different coloured sparks.

2. Sirius would cause a distraction during the Sorting Ceremony, by starting a fight with the Slytherins, and when everyone was watching the fight, James would have sprinkled some of the motion detector potion at every doorway.

3. After the ceremony, when all of the houses and professors left the hall to go to their common rooms, every doorway would explode as soon as someone passed through it. The colorful sparks and angry chaos which would have ensued could have gone down in Hogwarts history.

James sighed; the plan had been almost foolproof and would have worked perfectly, if he hadn't landed himself in detention.

Just then, a book which wasn't goblin related caught James's eye. "Important spells of the Twentieth Century." On the cover of the book was a picture of a juggling rabbit, with the caption "Even old pets can learn new tricks!" Intrigued, James flipped through the book, and he found a few useful spells which could be turned into some wonderful pranks. One spell in particular seemed like exactly what he needed to get back at Whiskers…

"Alright Mr. Potter, Miss Evans, the sorting ceremony is over. You may now go up to your dormitory."

"Yes Madam Pince."

Lily immediately turned her back on James and marched out of the library. He hurriedly took out the book he needed, and followed her to the Gryffindor dorms. Unfortunately, on the way to the Gryffindor tower, James was intercepted by a frightening black blur, which knocked him over. James quickly realized that the blur was his best friend, but that didn't make him any less frightening.

"Where _the bloody hell _were you? You completely bailed on _Operation Big Bang!_" Sirius growled.

"Gerroff me and I'll tell you."

Sirius removed his knee from his friend's stomach, and let him get up. With a murderous expression on his face, Sirius said, "Go on, explain."

With a sigh, James retold his sad, sad story. Of how he had rescued Evans, how she treated him like dirt despite that, and how McGonagall had given them both detention.

Sirius listened patiently, and shook his head with sympathy, "It happens, mate, it happens. But we _will _get back at Whiskers, somehow, someway, we _will _avenge the untimely demise of Operation Big Bang." Sirius vowed solemnly.

Then Sirius's expression changed into a lopsided grin, " Now that I've sworn my revenge, let's go up to our dorm. Before the Snore Maestro starts his symphony preferably."

James grinned, "Don't you enjoy it? Peter's is the _only _symphony in history to be played while sleeping."

"Not true, Prongs! _You_ can play tons of different symphonies in your sleep. _Evans, Evans! Got to grab the snitch! Must beat Slytherin! Must - keep - hair – from – getting - too - neat!_ The song depends on your mood really."

James shoved his friend playfully, but Sirius sidestepped him and let him run into a stone wall. Rubbing his now sore head, James frowned, annoyed, "I _do not_ talk in my sleep. But you do, and I can't even repeat some of the things you've said."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. Well actually I can…_Peter, I love you…truly I do. Your roundness, your smell, your-_ Hey!"

Sirius aimed a kick at James, but he missed which resulted in James making a face at Sirius and telling him to "Be careful, young one, or someone could get hurt."

Sirius retaliated by saying, "That was sort of the idea Prongs…" After that he practically jumped at James, who took off running in the direction of their dormitory.

A few action packed minutes later, both boys were sitting in their dorm along with Moony and Wormtail, howling with laughter.

"Are you two quite finished?"

"Moony, how could you even _ask_ such a question? The Marauders are _never_ finished laughing. NEVER I SAY! You must join us in the laughter or suffer the SEVERE CONSEQUENCES!"

"Uh huh…Padfoot, I think you've had enough sugar for one night."

Sirius grinned and took a large bite out of a chocolate frog, "I've just gotten started…"

James, who's fit of giggles had finally ended, got up from the suitcase he had been sitting on and raised his hand in the air. He then formed the shape of a deer with his hand by placing his middle and ring fingers on the tip of his thumb and pointing his pointer and pinkie fingers into the air.

Remus responded by howling and Peter twitched his nose like a mouse. Only Sirius didn't bother making his sign. Instead he continued laughing, "Oooh, Prongsie's got an announcement…for future reference Prongs, you don't have to announce it. If you gotta go, just go!"

"Padfoot…no. Just…no." James said.

Sirius shrugged and formed a barking dog with his hand. That was the fourth and final sign needed to officially start the Marauders meeting, so James cleared his throat and began talking, "As you all know, Operation Big Bang was a no show because I landed a detention. So, naturally, we need to come up with a way to exact revenge on ol' Whiskers, who prevented the prank from happening."

"Why don't we just do operation Big Bang tomorrow?" Peter asked.

"Because a prank of such massive proportions is meant for a special occasion, you dolt!" Sirius scolded.

"Oh."

James continued speaking, "I think I know just the spell to use for the prank…it's a synchronizing spell."

A spark lit up in Sirius's eyes, "Brilliant!"

Remus, who knew by now that there was no way of understanding what went on in his best friends heads asked, "And how, pray tell, is that brilliant? I've been able to do that spell for years."

James grinned, "Excellent then, you can perform it for us in the prank. But what will we…?"

"I don't know we could maybe use that feather…"

"No, that's too old. How about the – wait a minute, Peter what the _diddle_ are you sitting on?"

Peter blushed bright red and stood up. It was a violin case, which he had obviously been trying to hide with his backside. Peter mumbled something about his mum forcing him to take lessons to make him more cultured, and how she forced him to bring the violin along, but the other three Marauders weren't listening. They were all wearing identical evil grins; they now had _everything _they needed for their revenge on McGonagall.


	8. The Cat and the Fiddle

The first class for the NEWT level students on the first day back was one of Lily's favorite ones; potions. At least, it _had_ been one of her favorites, back when she and Severus had still been friends. They had always sat together and they had always had the two best potions in the class.

But Lily didn't want to sit beside Severus today. If she did she would end up stuck beside him for the rest of the year, which seemed a fate worse than death. She just couldn't face him after what he and Mulciber had done the day before. So, the moment she had reached the dungeons, she asked her friends if she could sit beside one of them instead.

"But Alice and I _always_ sit together Lils!" Geeta said, surprised, "We sit together and fail this class together, and you ace it with Snive- er Snape."

Lily cringed at his name but then tried to hide it. She had decided not to tell her friends about what had happened to her on the train and she didn't want to make them suspicious. If they found out, Alice would have gotten overly sympathetic and worried, and Geeta would have said something along the lines of,"I _told_ you Snape was scum"

Trying to keep her voice steady, Lily said, "Snivellous is actually the last person who I want to sit with, Geeta. Please can I sit with one of you?"

Geeta looked at her friend appraisingly, "What did he do to you."

Lily sighed; so much for _her _plan. "I'll tell you, but not here or now. Slughorn will be here any second, so _please_ hurry."

Geeta scowled, "Fine, I'll help you, but you owe me big time." Then she walked off to find a new desk partner and allowed Lily to sit with Alice.

After potions, Lily had Transfiguration, and the second she walked into the room, she knew that there was going to be trouble. One look at Potter's arrogant and mischievous smirk told her that the Marauders were up to something. Something evil.

Lily cautiously took her usual seat in front of them and told her two friends of her suspicions, "Potter and pals are up to something, just look at them." She whispered.

Alice shivered, "I hope you're wrong." She said quietly, "Their pranks aren't usually very nice."

Geeta merely rolled her eyes, "Lily you're just overly suspicious. And even if they are up to something, it'll probably be all in fun. I actually love watching their pranks, me along with all of the other normal children in school."

Lily huffed, "You were singing quite a different tune when Potter _borrowed_ your snitch and enchanted it to blow up bubotuber pus when you touched it."

"That doesn't mean that I hate him, and neither should you. He's never even pranked you!"

Lily had just opened her mouth to argue that when Professor McGonagall entered the class room and held up her arms for silence. Then she cleared her throat and opened her mouth to speak. But no words came out. Instead, there came a raucous shrieking sound which echoed loudly throughout the class room and caused several students to shove their fingers in their ears.

SHREEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIK! SKWAWREEEEEEIIIIIIK!

McGonogall immediately clapped a hand over her mouth in shock, but it was too late; several students had begun to snicker at her behind their hands.

McGonagall took a deep breath, and then tried to speak again. Unfortunately for her, all that could be heard was the horrible shrieking sound, but then it morphed into a violin concerto.

Lily's mouth dropped open; Potter must have enchanted the professor so that when she opened her mouth all anyone could hear was a loud and poorly played violin.

Then McGonagall started to get angry. Her usually stern and pale face went cherry red and she swung her arms around in outrage. All the while she was trying to scream, but all that came out was a lively fiddling tune, the kind that would normally have Lily's feet tapping. This only got her madder, which made her try to scream louder, which in turn made her already chuckling class laugh even harder. The Marauders especially were snorting and rolling on the floor with unrestrained laughter, and they were also giving each other discreet high fives.

Then, Potter sobered up, and Lily almost believed, just for a moment that he was going to fess up, fix this mess and act like a proper head boy, but of course she was disappointed. Instead Potter raised his hand and said in a dead accurate imitation of Lily, "I'm sorry, Professor, but could you please repeat that? I don't speak violin."

At that the class was in raptures, all laughing like wild hyenas in Lily's opinion.

Finally, McGonagall just gave up. She stopped trying to talk and instead she turned to the blackboard and started to write. As she wrote, Sirius and James took it upon themselves to read aloud for the class;

"Class, please turn to page 34 and start to read up on animal conjuration (not bloody likely). Then answer the questions on page 38 and write a two foot essay on the topic for Friday (I thought that the first day back was supposed to be easy? Prongs, I _think_ that she's mad) And will Potter (Ha! You're in trouble) and Black (oh…diddle) please escort themselves down to the headmaster's office? (Er, let me think about that…no.)"

This comment caused McGonagall to turn around and glare at the Marauders menacingly.

Rather than confessing and apologizing like any good students would, they smiled innocently at her. "But Professor" James said when she pointed at what she had written on the board. "You can't punish us without proof! Heck, I don't' even own a violin!"

Sirius nodded, "You never know, _perhaps_ someone else did this."

For a moment, McGonagall just scowled. Then, with a sigh, she plopped down into her seat and began to massage her temples. Unfortunately for her, they were right. So, even though she _knew _that they were responsible, she couldn't punish them. She began to mutter to herself and a quiet violin tune played, and for a moment, McGonagall was glad that her students couldn't understand her because she was using some of the most colorful language she knew.

After the class had finally settled and were getting some work done, the professor left them to see Dumbledore, and request that she be given the rest of the day off. After she arrived and wrote her request down for him, he raised an eyebrow, "Have you suddenly gone mute, Minerva?"

She shook her head.

"Then why aren't you gracing me with your lovely voice?"

She hesitated, and then she tried to speak. All that came out was Beethoven's 9th symphony in violin.

"Ah." Was all Dumbledore said. In fact, he looked completely unsurprised, but rather amused, as he peered at her over his half moon spectacles. Then he pointed his wand at her throat and muttered a few choice words which, he knew, would stop Peter Pettigrew's violin from tormenting the poor professor any longer. After a few moments he smiled, "There, I believe that should take care of the problem! Now, if you please Minerva, say something."

"It was Potter! Blasted Potter and Black! Oh don't look at me like that Dumbledore, I _know_ it was them! Potter has _already_ proven himself to be incapable of having the responsibilities and qualities of a Head boy; he was late for the first meeting and he also made _Evans_ late. That's right; the always punctual Lily Evans was _late_ because of Potter! And then he humiliated me today. _Completely humiliated me_! Oh, I hope you know what you're doing, assigning him as Head boy!"

McGonagall's mouth was just a thin line as she glared at the Headmaster after she had said this. Her stare was powerful enough to send a lesser man away in tears, but Dumbledore simply smiled serenely. "Believe it or not, Minerva, I still believe that I made the correct decision regarding the Head boy. Now, if you'll kindly excuse me, I have a roomful of socks which needs folding…good day to you, Minerva."

And with that he gave her a curt nod, and got up. McGonagall just stared after him, gaping, until she regained her composure and hurried back to her class.


	9. Night Patrol

Once again, I must apologize for the slow update. I've been so busy on vacation that I haven't had a spare moment for fan fiction. *sigh* Well, at least you can't say I didn't warn you =]

*""*

There. She was done. Lily leaned back with a sigh and admired her now finished transfiguration essay. She knew that it was definitely good enough to merit an Outstanding, which she would need if she ever wanted to become an Auror. And she definitely wanted that. Lily wanted to be able to save the muggleborns and muggles from pointless slaughter, she wanted to help the ones who couldn't help themselves.

"Hey, earth to Lily, come in Lily!" Geeta snapped her fingers in Lily's face and the redhead broke her reverie.

"What is it?" she asked sounding clearly irritated.

"It's time." Geeta said, shoving her books into her bag.

"Time?"

Geeta smirked at her, and then proceeded very slowly as if she were speaking to a four year old, "Well, the period just _ended_. That means that it's time to _go_. Understand?"

Lily sighed, "Sorry, I was dreaming so I didn't even notice the time."

"Or the fact that everyone left." Geeta added, helping to load Lily's many volumes into her book bag. "Come on, we don't want to be late for lunch."

Then the girls hurried towards the Great Hall, content at the moment to worry about nothing but their growling stomachs.

*""*

James let out a huge yawn, and rumpled his hair. Then he checked his watch and groaned when he saw how late it was.

He couldn't believe that it was just his _second night back_ and he was already stuck on night patrol. In his opinion, the whole bloody concept of night patrol was pointless; he could just take out the Marauder's map if he wanted to make sure that the halls were empty. But of course, he couldn't very well tell that to Professor Dumbledore, so here he was, stuck waiting in the Great Hall, at _midnight_ no less, for his patrol partner to show up.

James took another glance at his watch, and saw that it was exactly 12:00 AM. If his partner took one more minute to arrive, then she would be late. He almost smiled at this; Lily Evans was never late.

Then as if on que, the large doors to the Great Hall swung open to reveal an irate Head girl. James took one look at her, and he instantly knew that it was going to be a _long_ night.

She didn't look openly furious, she actually looked quite indifferent, but James could tell from years of experience that she was only just containing her temper and annoyment of being forced to work with him. Her anger was boiling under her skin, James knew, so he would have to be very careful not to set her off.

"Come on Potter, we are covering the ground floor and dungeons." Lily said coldly. And that was clearly the only conversation she planned to have with him that night, for she then whirled around and stalked off in the direction of the dungeons, not bothering to check if he was following her.

James let out an exasperated sigh and went after her. He knew that she hated him, but he couldn't fathom why she was so angry at him all of a sudden. She was honestly behaving as if he had murdered her pet owl.

They walked through the dimly lit halls of Hogwarts in absolute silence for what seemed like hours. Lily led the way and the only time she spoke was when she was casting detector spells to catch any late night wanderers. Finally James couldn't take it anymore.

"Alright, what's going on, Evans?"

She let out a cold laugh, "It's called a _patrol_. As head boy you really should be familiar with the term, but if you're not, it's when –"

James groaned, "That's not what I meant and you know it, Evans. Why are being so…why are you so angry at me? I mean, diddle, I haven't done anything to you, have I?"

Lily suddenly stopped walking, and slowly turned to face him. James swore that he could see sparks coming from her blazing emerald eyes, and he involuntarily took a step away from her.

"Haven't done anything." She repeated quietly, "_Haven't done anything?_ Potter, you ruined _everything_!" Lily's voice was getting progressively louder, and her cheeks were burning as red as her hair.

"What?"

"Ugh! You made me all flustered and late for the first prefect meeting, you made me look irresponsible by then _wasting_ the whole meeting, you made me look bad in front of the prefects and landed me a detention, and then you completely ignored the rules and pulled a prank on the first _bloody day back_! You're setting a horrible example for everyone; you're immature, arrogant, prejudiced against Slytherins, and you weren't even a prefect. You don't deserve to be a Head, Potter, and you sicken me."

James couldn't believe his ears. All his life Lily had hated him, ignored his hand when he offered it in friendship and rebuked him, and she did it all, he knew, because of how he had treated Slytherins. And he had always just taken it because he knew that she was standing up for her beliefs. Now, though, Lily was insulting him and hurting him for absolutely no reason, and James decided that he wasn't just going to let her.

"Are you done, Evans." He said, keeping his voice deathly quiet.

She gave him a stiff nod, green eyes narrowed at him.

"Then listen to me, and listen closely because you need to hear this. You think that you're perfect."

Lily rolled her eyes, "No, that would be you, Potter."

James continued as if he hadn't heard her, "You think that you're better than me because you were a prefect, because you spend all of your time working, studying and being so bloody serious all of the time. And then, of course, there's the fact that I'm just an _arrogant toerag_." James paused and turned to look Lily right in her emerald eyes, "But guess what Evans? From where I'm standing, there's no one in the _whole bloody castle_ who's more stuck up than you."

Lily felt as if she had been slapped. She stood stock still, stunned and staring at James with wide eyes, and no inkling of how to respond to his accusations. Luckily, she didn't have to. James gave her a final glare, and then he turned his back to her saying, "I'll take the dungeons, the ground floor is yours."

Lily found herself frozen to the spot long after James's retreating figure had disappeared in the shadows. His words were playing over and over in her head, and they forced her to think back about how she had behaved towards him over the past days.

First he had rescued her, and then she had rebuffed him. That was one point for him. Then after that, he had wasted the prefect meeting. That was a point against him.

_Oh come on, he was just being Potter! And there was nothing too important that wasn't covered during that meeting anyways_

Lily tried to ignore this annoying, nagging voice in her head, and continued with her list. In the end, she grudgingly concluded that even though James had been an irresponsible git with his violin prank, she hadn't acted much better, and that it was wrong of her to blame _everything_ on him.

She knew that it was wrong to hold grudges against others, because everyone had _some_ good in them…but with Potter that had always been hard. She'd hated him so much and for so long that it was hard to let go and see him as anything other than an arrogant and spoilt toerag.

Lily sighed; at least she'd managed to admit to herself that where Potter was concerned she was _slightly_ blinded by hate. She resolved to try her best to be a tad more fair to him in the future, because if she didn't she just knew that she would feel guilty about it.

But for now, she would just try and avoid him. After all, what he had said to her was inexcusable, and even though Lily was a generally kind and forgiving person, her pride just wouldn't allow her to apologize to the likes of James bloody Potter.

And with that thought in mind, Lily hurried off to start her patrol.

*""*

"Wake _up_ James. Wake up now!"

"Five more minutes?"

"Sure…if you want to miss breakfast, Prongs."

James groaned and sat up in his bed. He looked around blearily and saw his three best friends staring at him. Remus was looking rather concerned, "Prongs are you alright? You look awful."

Sirius laughed and patted his friend on the back, "Don't worry, Moony! He always looks like that in the morning."

"Git", James murmured sleepily.

"Be that as it may, if you don't get your arse ready in five minutes, we are going to miss breakfast. And I don't care how late you were up last night for your patrol, I do not miss breakfast."

Sirius was looking rather imposing as he towered over James, so he hastily got himself ready, grabbed his bag and then the four friends went down to the Great Hall for breakfast. As James ate and watched all of the activity, he couldn't help but notice that the hall had looked much larger and more magical almost when he had been there last night. It had been so peaceful and quiet and he could see the stars. Unfortunately, thinking of the night before caused James to remember what had passed between him and Lily.

_What the bloody diddle were you thinking, James? How could you __**possibly**__ think that it would be a good idea to yell at her and insult her? If she hated you before, then now…_

Gulping, James shot a sideways glance down the table at Lily. If she noticed him looking at her, she was doing a good job hiding it. Lily was laughing at something one of her friends had just said, and completely oblivious to him. She smiled and then casually rested her cheek in her palm. She really did have the most beautiful smile of anyone James had ever seen. Not that it was ever directed at him. No, her pretty smile always seemed to go into hiding when he was around, and after what James had said to her the other night, he doubted that he would ever see it again.

"Yeah, that's what I said, Moony. But don't worry, he'll be gone by next year. 'Ain't that right, Prongs. Prongs?"

James sat up and nodded at Sirius, "Er, yeah…of course. What are we talking about?"

Sirius rolled his eyes, "See what I mean? You are definitely challenged Prongsie. Nothing but air under that mess you call hair."

James punched his friend lightly on the shoulder, "Well, if you'd rather I shampoo and condition my hair lovingly three times a day, and carry around hair products and combs the way you do, then I'm going to have to disappoint you."

Sirius smirked and ran a hand through his silken black locks, "Hey, perfection like this is hard to maintain!"

This comment caused Remus to look up from the book he was reading with a sigh, "I leave you two alone in conversation for _two minutes_, and you're discussing hair."

Sirius grinned, "Well, when you've got hair like _mine_…"

Remus chose to ignore this, and he turned to James instead, "So, what do _you_ think of the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor? Professor Crumlin?"

James shrugged, "I was away during the Opening Ceremony, remember? I haven't even seen him yet."

"Well now's your chance I guess." Remus said, finishing off his toast and pulling on his book bag. "We've got him first period, which is in five minutes."

James grabbed his own bag and they left the Hall. As he passed James took one last look at Lily. She was slinging her own bag over her shoulder, and then she got up from the table with her friends. For a moment, she met James's gaze, and he thought that he might have seen an apology in her eyes...but the look quickly morphed into a glare and he walked away.

*""*

So, you've made it this far, have you? In that case there are no excuses; you're gonna have to review to tell me what you think of it, and why you're still reading.

Or at least, I'd like you to =]


	10. DADA

Surprised aren't you? _I didn't take two weeks to update_! Don't get used to it though =]

*""*

"Good morning class! Good morning and welcome to your first Defence Against the Dark Arts class of the year!"

The blond wizard paused his speech to beam at his class of tired looking seventeen year olds. Several of them were leaning their heads in their hands, elbows on their desks, and a few were even nodding off slowly, but that didn't bother the professor who plowed on undaunted, "Well, my name is Professor Crumlin, and to start to year off, we are going to have a brief review of what you covered last year. So, what _did_ you cover?"

Sirius rolled his eyes at the professor's enthusiasm and whispered to his friends, "Nothing, aside from the ten best ways to lock a professor in the closet."

Remus nodded, "Yeah, last year's DADA professor was a right nightmare…the only way I learned anything was by memorizing the textbook."

Peter paled, "Were we supposed to do that?"

"No, Moony's just messed up."

"Oh, good."

At the front of the room Professor Crumlin was still waiting for a response, "Anyone? Anyone? Ah, you there, could _you_ please give me a brief overview of the material you covered last year?"

James craned his neck to see who had volunteered to answer the question, and wasn't surprised to see Lily taking a deep breath and launching into a perfect explanation of the sixth year curriculum:

"Well, last year's focus was primarily on dueling, particularly with non-verbal spells. We also covered all of the basic OWL level jinxes and hexes, as well as common curses and counter-curses."

Professor Crumlin smiled to see that one of his students was obviously as enthusiastic about the subject as he was, so he egged her on saying, "And dealing with dark creatures…how about that, Miss…?"

"Evans, sir. And magical creatures were mostly covered during third and fourth year. We've learned how to defend ourselves against boggarts, hinkypunks, imps, grindylows, pixies and –"

For some reason, this made Professor Crumlin clap his hands with glee, interrupting her. "Ah…so then you haven't faced any of the _real_ dark creatures yet."

Lily's brow's furrowed in confusion, "Sir?"

"You haven's learned how to deal with trolls, giants, graphorns, inferi, manticores, dementors, werewolves (this made Remus swallow hard and James put a hand on his shoulder to reassure him) vampires and dragons and live to tell the tale?"

The class was silent, which only made Crumlin smile wider, "Excellent. Oh I have so much to teach you all! But where should I begin?" He stared off into space as if lost in thought, and the class took that opportunity to discuss their new professor.

"He's nutters." Geeta whispered to her friends, "Completely nutters."

Lily frowned at the girl, "What are you talking about? He seems like a really good teacher to me so far. And he's obviously really interested in his subject."

Alice nodded, "I agree, and he seems really nice too!"

Geeta sighed, "You two find _everyone _really nice. You're too trusting for your own bloody good. I mean heck Lily, you even trusted Snivellous! And look where that got you."

Alice looked at Lily curiously after that, "Lily, you never did tell us…what happened between you and Snape on the train?"

"I'll tell you later, alright?"

Just then Professor Crumlin seemed to wake up from his day dream, and he gave the class another wide grin. "I've got just the thing! Class, one of the most difficult spells to perform under pressure is the Patronus charm, which as you all know is used to repel dementors. However, if we can just make this room into a cheery and warm environment, I do believe that I could probably get most of you to perform one! So, would everyone kindly put their books away and come to the front of the room."

The class obeyed, and once they were all crowded around Professor Crumlin's desk, he waved his wand to push all of their desks against the back wall. This opened up a large space in the center of the room.

"Right then, I'd like you all to spread yourselves out evenly, and then hold your wands out like this" Crumlin said demonstrating. "Good. Now I'd like each of you to call up the happiest memory you've got."

This cause several titters from the class.

"I didn't ask you to share the memory with the class, just concentrate on it!" Crumlin admonished.

Lily closed her eyes in concentration. Her happiest memory? She wasn't sure _what_ her happiest memory was. She decided to try the moment when she had discovered that she had been made head girl.

"Have you all got your memories? Good. Now I'd like you to please hold on to those memories, and use the incantation _Expecto Patronum_ to cast the spell. But please don't expect to get a good result the first time. That almost never happens. So on the count of three then? One…two…"

"Expecto Patronum!?!"

"_Not yet lad_! What is your name?"

Peter blushed crimson, "Pettigrew, sir."

"Well, Pettigrew, please wait for me to finish my countdown! It's just _not the same_ without it!" Crumlin was practically pouting, which caused several members of the class to barely conceal their sniggers.

"Let's try again, then. One…two…THREE!"

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

Despite the fact that most of the class had bellowed out the spell, nothing happened. There were a few miniscule wisps of white mist, but that was all.

Crumlin didn't seem the least bit bothered by the lack of progress, though. He merely smiled and said, "Excellent! Now, for the rest of the period I would like you to continue practicing the spell on your own. I'll be coming around to help you one by one, and if I don't get everyone, well there's always tomorrow." And with that Crumlin gestured for the class to get started.

The first student he went to check on was Lily. "Well, Miss Evans, may I watch you cast?"

She nodded and tried casting the spell again.

Then she tried it again.

Nothing happened and Crumlin looked slightly disappointed in her. "Are you _positive_ that the memory you chose was happy enough?"

Lily shook her head, feeling ashamed of herself. She was not used to failure.

"Well then, try another." Crumlin encouraged.

"Yes Professor." Lily closed her eyes and chose another memory.

"Have you got one?"

"Yes…_Expecto Patronum!_'

Even before the doe burst out of her wand, Lily knew that she had performed the spell perfectly. The patronus was a beautiful white, purer than the pelt of a unicorn and with its own sort of light and pearly sheen. It gracefully pranced around her and then slowly faded away.

That's when Lily became aware of the fact that all eyes in the room were on her. Some looked jealous, some looked impressed and Potter…Potter was giving her a funny look. As if he had just realized something…

Crumlin, for his part, looked dazed, and for a moment he just stared at Lily in awe. Then he let out a loud cheer and began clapping gleefully. "Never, in all my years as an educator have I seen anyone grasp that spell so quickly. That was absolutely perfect Miss Evans! Oh, that was wonderful."

Lily smiled softly, and said "Thank you professor." She wished that he would stop making such a big deal, because Lily had never liked attention. Finally, after he had left her to see the progress of the other students, she began to think about the memory she had chosen; it had been of her tenth birthday.

She had been upset because she wasn't having a big party like her friend Holly had, but it had turned out to be one of the best birthday's she had ever had. Tuney and her had gone bowling, then skating, and then to the park, just the two of them and their parents. Tuney had still been her best friend then, it was before Sev had become a large part of her life.

"Well done Mr. Potter!"

Lily's head snapped up at these words and she saw Crumlin clapping James hard on the back and loudly congratulating him. Then she took a look at what James had conjured. It wasn't a fully formed patronus, more of a thick cloud than anything else, but Lily couldn't help but notice that it sort of resembled….

"A _spoon_? Bloody hell Prongs, don't tell me _that's_ your patronus." Sirius laughed after Crumlin had left him to see Alice's progress.

"Oh shut up, at least I got something." James retorted.

"Yes…but a _spoon_? I mean, picture this. There's a little old witch on the street who shouts _Oh no, a dementor is coming_!"

Remus joined in the mocking, "And then Padfoot shows up and says _Don't worry; James will save us_!"

"_But how_? _The dementor's kiss is completely unstoppable and a fate worse than death itself_!"

"_Well, a dementor is still no match for James here. He…has…a…SPOON_!"

Both boys collapsed laughing, and James glared at them. "Honestly, Remus I never would have expected this of you."

They ignored him, and when Remus had somewhat regained his breath, he said, "So James, what exactly _was_ your happy thought?"

"Judging from that patronus, it probably involved pudding." Sirius sniggered.

James was about to tell his friends where he would shove the pudding if the didn't lay off him, when Crumlin announced that class was over. He also told them that their homework would be to write an essay on Dementors; on their advantages and disadvantages.

"Well, Spoons, it's time for your favourite class!" Sirius grinned as they left the DADA room.

James glared, "Call me 'Spoons' again, Padfoot. Go on."

"SPOOOOONS!" Sirius laughed, but the laughter died on his face when he saw James's expression. It was murderous.

James chased Sirius all the way to Charms class, and Remus rolled his eyes and wondered if his friends would _ever_ grow up.

*""*

So, I guess we can see where Harry got his DADA skills from ;]

Alright, I know. There was _zero_ James and Lily contact during this chapter, but they are still pretty mad at each other so it's not my fault. This chapter _was_ necessary though...you'll see why later.

Oh, and if I completely messed up the seventh year DADA curriculum, I'm sorry. I just took a guess at what would be covered and hoped that I wasn't too far off. So anyways, I hope you liked it, and stay tuned because the next chapter involves Quidditch and cows!


	11. Quidditch Tryouts

That's right! I'm on a roll!

Now there won't be too much Lily/James interaction in this chapter either...alright there won't be any. But there is some slight development in another relationship, if you can spot it, and there is _lots_ of Quidditch which was an absolute _blast_ to write. Enjoy!

P.S. As far a a plot goes, this story _actually_ has one, don't worry. It just hasn't really developed yet...there was some of it in that Snape/Lily encounter on the train, but it's coming...probably in two chapters... Oh, and the next chapter should have some good old fashioned Lily/James in it, worry not!

*""*

James took a large bite out of his sandwich, and glanced down the table at Evans. She'd been ignoring him completely for the past few days, even when he'd been partnered with her once during Charms. He idly wondered if she would speak to him if she knew that _she_ had been his happy memory for the patronus charm, but he doubted that she would care.

He took another bite out of his lunch and noticed that Sirius hadn't arrived yet. This struck him as odd because Sirius never missed meals.

"Hey Moony?"

"Yes?"

"Where's Padfoot?"

"Probably down at the pitch already. He and Geeta went down there earlier to prepare."

"Oh. Prepare for what?"

Remus turned to face James, "Are you _sure_ you're feeling all right, mate?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Because you're supposed to be down at the pitch too... getting ready for the Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts?"

James nodded, disinterested. "Oh…wait....WHAT THE BLOODY HELL?" He jumped out of his seat and bolted to his dorm to get his broom and Quidditch robes.

After he had left, Remus just sighed, picked up his friend's forgotten books and bag and he started making his way down to the Quidditch pitch to watch the tryouts.

*""*

Geeta pulled on her wrist guards and Quidditch boots, and laced them up tightly. Then she grabbed her worn old broom and headed out to the Quidditch pitch to warm up. Although she knew that she had been the team seeker for the past two years, and that she had a very good chance of making the team again, she also knew that it was always a bad idea to get over confidant and a good idea to practice.

Geeta had come down early, so she had the pitch to herself, for awhile. After she had completed only two laps of the field, she saw Sirius Black flying up to meet her. He was flying straight at her and showing no signs of stopping, but Geeta was careful not to give him the satisfaction of flinching. Instead she dove at the last minute to avoid him and then turned to grin at him, "What was that all about? Having trouble controlling your broom, _Captain_?"

"Naw, I was just making sure you were awake, Cow."

Geeta scowled. She absolutely _hated_ her nickname. Sirius had given it to her when they had been on the team together in fifth year, because of her lucky broom.

See, although Geeta's favourite broom was fast and suited her perfectly, it was very old. When it had been brand new it had been a sleek thing, with a shiny black finish. Now, however, some of that polish had come off in patches, giving the broom the appearance of a cow's hide.

"Well, I may be a _cow_, but I bet that I'm still fast enough to beat you, _Captain_."

Sirius raised an eyebrow, "Wanna bet? Let's race, five times around the pitch, starting…NOW."

They shot off, and although it was a close race, Geeta won easily.

"Not – fair. You're – a – bloody – seeker! Being fast – is – your – job." Sirius panted as they landed.

"Whatever you say, _captain_!" Geeta said cheerfully. She wanted to irritate him, because she _hated_ being called cow.

"Geets, you can just call me Sirius, alright?" he said, getting slightly annoyed. He had gone out with her once in fourth year, but then they had realized that after that being on the team together and hanging out had gotten really awkward. Now they were just friends and team mates, so it felt weird when she called him by anything but his name.

"Alright…captain!"

"Cow."

Just then James came running onto the pitch, panting and looking very guilty, "I'm _so_ sorry I'm late… this completely slipped my mind! Did I miss anything?"

Sirius pretended to look furious, "Diddle, Spoons, you missed _everything_! You missed the bloody tryouts so I had to replace you with some random fourth year! We can kiss that Cup goodbye!"

James's hazel eyes went wide in horror. "Wh-wha-what?"

Geeta burst out laughing, "You're too gullible for your own good, James."

For a moment, James looked confused, and then, "You mean…Padfoot, I'm gonna _kill_ you one of these days, I truly am." James growled as he mounted his broom. The three warmed up together for a while, and soon several other Gryffindors trickled into the stands and the pitch, ready for the try outs.

Geeta spotted Lily and Alice in the crowd, and waved at them. Her friends really weren't very interested in Quidditch, but they never failed to show up and support her. It meant a lot.

"Right, then." Sirius bellowed to the crowd using the Sonorous charm. "You're all obviously here because you'd like a spot on my – er, I mean – the Gryffindor team. Well, only a handful of you diddles are going to make it, so if you know that you won't be able to dedicate to this, then get the heck out of here."

A few younger witches and wizards left.

"Also, being on this team takes skills, so if you're a rubbish player, get lost."

"_Mr. Black!"_

Sirius started, and his head whipped around to see Professor McGonagall glaring at him, "You do _not_ speak to your fellow students that way!! Captain or not!"

"Sorry professor." Sirius muttered, but he obviously didn't mean it. "Well, anyways, we'll start with the Seeker tryouts, so will all others please go and wait in the stands? Go on, _get_. Excellent! Now, this is how it's gonna work, since a Seeker's got to be fast, all Seeker hopefuls are going to race around the pitch five times on their brooms. The ten fastest will then compete a few times for the snitch, and the person who catches it the most consistently wins the position. Follow?"

The Seekers nodded, and then took to the air lining up in preparation for the race. James watched them, wondering why Sirius was even bothering. Everyone knew that Geeta would get the position. She'd had the most experience, and she was pretty fast.

Actually, James was feeling pretty impressed by Sirius overall, at the moment. He was being fair, unbiased and professional. There wasn't a_ trace_ of the nutter he usually behaved like. James grinned and watched as the race progressed. Geeta won the first round, lost the second to a slim third year boy, won the third and fourth and tied the fifth with that same third year. He was never more than a few meters behind her.

"Right then, well done all, but will everyone who didn't place the top ten please _leave_? Now?" Sirius said waving the Seekers away. "Now, all of you are going to line up at that end of the pitch. Then I'll release the snitch on this end, and you'll have to try and catch it. Obviously."

Geeta nodded, and took her place at the end of the pitch. Sirius counted to three, and then the snitch was in the air.

She shot off towards it just a split second before any of the others Seeker's had thought to move and trailed it closely. It was shooting up into the clouds, and Geeta had to climb almost vertically to follow it. She focused all of her concentration on nothing but the little golden ball, flattening herself to her broom to move that last meter she needed to have it in her hand and…

THUNK!

Something hard collided with her side, knocking her off balance and causing her to lose the snitch. She didn't bother checking who had hit her, instead she gave him a good shove out of the way and accelerated away from him. She soon spotted the snitch again, but there were two other Seekers already right behind it, and both of them had their hands outstretched for the catch.

But none of them were a match for her. She leaned foreword until her chin was practically touching the broom handle and shot right between the other two Seekers and to the snitch. It was hers.

Geeta let out a triumphant "YEAH!" And pumped her fist into the air, showing the snitch off to the crowd. They went wild, cheering and screaming for her spectacular performance. At least, most of them were.

Geeta couldn't help but notice that Remus Lupin had only glanced up from the book he was reading, and then looked back down again. For some reason, this irked her. She had probably pulled off the most brilliant catch he would ever see, and he wasn't even cheering for her, he wasn't calling out her name…Well, it wasn't as if she had ever been close friends with him, Geeta thought rationally. He was just a friend of some friends, and she had never really paid attention to the quiet boy. Come to think of it, she really had no reason to be thinking about him at present either.

She shook her head to focus, and landed, returning the snitch to Sirius. The seekers repeated the exercise four more times, and Geeta won four more times.

"Well, that decides it, then!" Sirius called out to the crowd, "The Gryffindor Seeker this year will be Geeta – big surprise – so we will now do the Keeper and Chaser tryouts…SIMULTANEOUSLY!" Sirius sounded excited, and Geeta laughed, "You must be proud of yourself, that word had _six whole _syllables in it!"

Sirius stuck his tongue out at her, and Geeta started to leave the pitch for the stands. On her way to sit beside Lily, she couldn't help but take a closer look at Remus Lupin. He had put his book away and was now watching the tryouts intently. Far more intently than he had watched her tryout.

_Probably because it was obvious that you'd make the team._

Geeta still found herself wishing that he had watched her the way he was watching now. He had the most intense eyes of anyone she had ever seen, they were grey like Sirius's…but you could tell that the thoughts behind Remus's eyes were _far _deeper. And his neat, wavy light brown hair framed his angular face perfectly, in a way that made him look handsome. Not drop dead gorgeous like Sirius, but Remus had his own, more subtle sort of charm which was refreshing after being with a flirt like Sirius… Geeta suddenly realized that she had been staring at the boy for too long, and for no real reason, so she continued through the stands until she met up with Lily.

"Congratulations Geeta!" Alice chimed the moment she saw her friend

"Oh come on, Alice, everyone knew that she was going to get it. Brilliant flying out there though!" Lily said with a grin. And she meant it. Lily herself was awful on a broomstick, even though she did find it very fun and exhilarating.

"Thanks." was all Geeta said. And then rather than watching the rest of the tryouts she entered the realm of day dreams. For some reason her mind was no longer on Quidditch…

*""*

"What the diddle was that, Spoons? Get your head in the game!" Sirius bellowed.

James gritted his teeth. He felt like smacking his head for his own stupidity, but that was a tricky maneuver to make while flying on a broom.

He had just fired a wild shot at the third hoop, which had missed it completely. It hadn't even been close. He just couldn't seem to get into his zone today.

James figured that his lack of concentration might have something to do with Lily, who was watching him from the stands. Or rather, she was glaring at him from the stands. Even from a distance there was no mistaking her crossed arms and narrowed eyes. James knew that the redhead should have been the farthest thing from his mind at the moment, but his heart didn't seem to care much for Quidditch at the moment. The stupid thing was too busy feeling guilty for insulting Lily, and wishing that she wasn't angry at him, on top of hating him.

"Prongs, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" James jerked on his broom in surprise and saw that Sirius was now flying right beside him. "Look Prongs, I'm sorry about the whole Spoons thing, I didn't know that it would throw you off your game like this…but please, _please_ don't make me cut you from the team._ Pull yourself together_!"

"It's not the Spoons thing it's –" but Sirius flew away before James could finish. So, James just shook his head and cleared it of all thoughts but scoring.

Sirius had organized a mock game of Quidditch to select the Chasers and Keeper. The Keeper hopefuls would alternate after every five shots they saved, or every time they missed one, and the Chasers were basically playing every- man-for-himself style. James had scored twice so far, as had two others. If he hit three goals first, then he would be immediately placed on the team again.

So, James was tailing the girl who currently had the quaffle with all he had, pretending that he was going to ram her, and shouting in an effort to make her drop it, but she held tight. The girl, Lina, had already scored two goals and like James, she was determined to be the first to get three.

Finally, after swerving around all of the other chasers on the pitch, Lina hurled the quaffle at the middle goal, hard. The keeper hadn't seen her coming, and was circling the third hoop carelessly; she was going to get an easy shot and easy spot on the team.

Sirius quietly swore to himself.

_Diddle, James, I guess you've lost your touch. _

Then all of a sudden James came hurtling out of nowhere and he intercepted the quaffle just before it sailed through the hoop. With a fierce determination in his hazel eyes, he shot to the other side of the pitch like an arrow, and by the time people had dazedly comprehended that Lina _hadn't_ scored, James had won his spot on the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

*""*

Well, there you have it! My first ever Quidditch scene...


	12. Common Room Chats and the Apology

50 reviews... _50!_ Have you _any _idea how EPIC that is for me? You guys are _AWSOME!!!_

*""*

It was a quiet afternoon in the Gryffindor Common room. Many students were tired from the Quidditch Tryouts, some were catching up on homework, and several more were just, for lack of a better term, chillin.

Lily Evans was definitely not the one of the latter. She was hard at work writing her essay on dementors for DADA, when her two best friends came up and joined her.

"Lils, isn't that essay due on _Friday_? Why don't you just relax?" Geeta said sternly as she plopped onto the couch beside her friend, "You're ruining your childhood!"

Lily rolled her eyes, "At least _I _won't be scrambling to do it during the lunch before it's due."

Alice giggled, "Nope, you'll be busy doing some _other_ homework."

Lily sighed, "Has it ever occurred to you two that if you changed your work habits a little, you would get more done and better grades?"

Alice and Geeta exchanged a glance and then turned to face their irate friend, "No!"

Lily shook her head at them, and continued working on her essay. That was when Geeta remembered something, "Wait, weren't you going to tell us what happened on the train now?"

Lily shifted in her seat uncomfortably, "Was I?"

Alice put a hand on her friend's shoulder, "Tell us, Lils. Whatever happened, it's obviously bothering you, so you'll feel better if you tell us."

Realizing that she had no choice, Lily relayed the entire story. Since she was an honest person, she left nothing out, including the encounter she had with James. After she was finished, her friends simply stared at her. Then, "Oh my gosh, Lily, Mulciber could have really hurt you!"

"I know, Alice but he didn't"

"Well, that's what you get for trusting a snake like Snivellous."

"I know, Geets."

"You shouldn't be so mean to James now, after all he _did _save you."

"That's not why I'm angry at Potter."

"Then why Lily?"

Lily sighed, _that_ was harder to explain. True, he had called her stuck up, but when she thought about it, stuck up was exactly how she had behaved towards him. _Diddle_, she had told him that _she_ was worthy to be head and he wasn't. If anyone had the right to be mad, he did. And he was, as far as Lily could tell. But, even if they were true, James's words had hurt Lily, and she wasn't going to apologize after that.

Geeta frowned, "Alright then, don't tell us. But do us all a favour, Lily, and stay away from Snivellous from now on. I know that you're the sweet innocent girl who trusts the whole bloody world, but Snape is bad news."

Lily was stung, "D'you honestly think that I would talk to him after what he did?"

"Knowing you…"

"Shut up, Geeta." Lily glared at her friend, and then she resolutely went back to her homework.

*""*

A very different sort of conversation was taking place on the other side of the common room. The four marauders were sitting cross legged by the empty fire place and discussing how the tryouts had gone:

"Brilliant! Peakes has _really _been practicing over the summer, and between him and me those bloody bludgers don't stand a chance!" Sirius exclaimed loudly.

"Neither does Slytherin." James added, "The cup is ours!"

Then both of them exchanged a brief look of pure joy, and then got up and danced lively victory dances.

Remus rolled his eyes, "How about you two save this for _after _you've won the Quidditch cup? We've got more important things to talk about right now, I'm sure."

Sirius raised an eyebrow, "Like?"

For some reason James suddenly looked less elated than he had just minutes before. He sat back down and said, "Moony's right, I _do _have something to talk to you guys about."

"Why you were so distracted during the tryouts perhaps?" Sirius inquired, taking a seat as well.

James nodded, "It's Evans."

The other three boys groaned. "What happened this time?"

"Well…I _accidentally_ called her stuck up, and now she won't talk to me. Not even during patrols or classes!"

"Prongs…" Moony said slowly, "She never used to talk to you anyway."

"Yeah, but… I dunno, I thought that this year would be different. I mean, I rescued her on the train, and after that she acted sort of nice to me…but then she realized that I was head boy and she went back to ignoring me."

James was looking very dejected, and Sirius shook his head. He had to set his poor friend straight.

"Mate, there's something you need to know… Evans hates you. She always has and she always will. So you should just stop trying to get with her and accept that, 'cause this year's not gonna be any different."

"But Padfoot, did you see her patronus? It was a _doe_ for diddle's sake! That's gotta mean _something_! Moony?"

Remus, who had recently finished his essay on dementors and patronuses, took his time answering. He didn't want to get his friend's hopes up only to have them dashed, but facts didn't lie, "Well… a patronus is happy energy, and it shows up in the form which best suits the person, a form which attracts the person. That said, it can also be affected by a person's emotions, only big ones mind you, like after suffering a loss or falling in love. Then there are some cases in which they have been affected by _so called _destiny and fate in order to show a person something about themselves which they don't realize. It's all very wooly, and none of those cases have ever been backed up with real proof, but…"

Remus stopped because he could tell that James had already read far too much from his explanation.

"Destiny…" James whispered with a dreamy look in his hazel eyes. Suddenly his eyes cleared over. "I'm going to apologize to her." He announced.

Sirius cocked an eyebrow, "Are you really? Now?"

James turned around and saw that she was surrounded by a gaggle of girls. "Er…no. But I will do it!"

Sirius rolled his eyes, "Sure you will. Now that that's settled, how about we discuss something that's _really_ important?"

"Like?"

"Like deciding when we deliver the next dose of pure _mayhem_ to the students of Hogwarts?"

"A prank?"

"_Yes_, Wormtail. A prank. So, whaddya say, Prongs?"

"Er…" James glanced across the room at Evans. He had let her down when he had played that first prank of Whiskers and he wasn't about to let her down again. If he did, he just knew that she would never forgive him. And in that moment, during that one glance at Evans, he knew that he would never forgive himself either. In that moment, James decided to do whatever it took to become worthy of and to truly earn his head boy badge.

"Er, _what_ Prongs?"

James looked up at his friend. He looked right into his friend's mischievous grey eyes and said, "I'm sorry mate, I won't be able to help you this time."

Sirius just stared, and James explained, "I'm head boy now… and I just can't go on causing trouble. I'm sorry."

Three pairs of wide and shocked eyes stared back and him, and then Sirius broke the silence, shouting, "WHAT IN THE NAME OF _MERLIN'S BLOODY HOUSE ELF_ ARE YOU SAYING!?!?"

Sirius's voice echoed throughout the common room and everyone stopped their conversations to turn and stare at him. A very awkward silence ensued, and several frightened looking first years backed as far away from Sirius as they could manage.

This made the marauders decide that their little chat was no longer private, so they left the common room and headed up to their dorm, where James made it quite clear, to Remus's amusement and Sirius's horror (and Peter's confusion), that he was officially retiring from the pranking business.

*""*

Now was his chance.

James had been keeping tabs on Lily all day in an effort to get her alone…but she hadn't gone anywhere without at least one of her two best friends. Then, finally, she had left her friends at lunch because she had to go to the library to return some books and they were still eating.

Sacrificing the second half of his fish and chips to Sirius, James had left early as well to follow Lily to the library. Since most of the school was still eating, they practically had the whole place to themselves. For a while James just watched her. He watched her walk up and down the aisles of books, carefully returning each to it's precise location. Finally she was on her last few books, and James realized that he had to act fast.

Mustering up the courage he needed, James took a deep breath and approached her. "Er, Evans?"

"Yes, Potter?" she said without looking up from the books she was shelving.

"I…" James hesitated, and then he decided to get it all out of the way quickly and painlessly. So he said the following words as fast as he possibly could, "I'm really sorry about calling you stuck up, I dunno what I was thinking. I shouldn't have done it, and I shouldn't have wasted that meeting or pulled that prank either and I was hoping…well I was hoping that this year, even though you hate me, we could put our differences aside and work together. Well, we don't really have a choice, we've gotta work together, but we could…."

Lily held up a hand for him to stop talking, "Wait! I'm the one who should be sorry…I _was _being stuck up, and I shouldn't have said that you didn't deserve that badge" Lily nervously played with a strand of her mahogany hair and then looked James rigt in the eyes, "I was just feeling sort of…overwhelmed. Forgive me?"

James's mouth fell open. _She _was asking him to forgive _her_? He had been expecting a slap, and he had gotten an apology.

Lily really was the strangest person he knew, including Sirius. One moment she hated his guts, and the next, her nice personality had taken over and she was treating him almost like a friend. He would_ never_ understand her.

"Yeah…forgive me?"

"Of course, _Potter_. Now may I _please_ go back to my shelving?"

James couldn't help but grin at her once again icy tone. Apparently now that she had apologized and her conscience was clear, she had no qualms about hating him. "Of course."

But just before James left the library he caught Lily's gaze again, and he didn't see any hate in them. He didn't exactly see friendship or fondness either, but there was a little more in those green eyes than just cold disdain, and it made James realize that he had taken a major step with Lily that day.

He wasn't sure exactly what it was a step towards… but it was a step all the same.

*""*

Okay, from now on there is going to be tons of Lily & James interaction. Or at least, way more than there has been during the last few chapters. There will also be a plot. That's right, a REAL plot! WOOT!

So, if you want me to continue, spare a moment and review! (Hey...that rhymed!)


	13. The Mudblood Potion and Snape

Alright, I had a wonderful vacation, and now I'm all rested and ready to get back to reality!

Now, I was really nervous about posting this chapter because it's sorta different from all the previous ones...you'll see what I mean when you read it, I guess. So _please_ be kind in your review of this chapter because I've never really done anything like it before. BTW, this is the legendary plot you've all been so anxiously awaiting...or at least I hope you have =]

*""*

The dimly lit streets of Knockturn Alley were almost deserted. The moonlight cast long shadows on the street, making even small creatures appear large and foreboding, and causing there to be a strange sort of mystery in the shadows. One couldn't tell what those shadows were concealing. Yes, it was a _dark_ October night, and that suited the only occupant of the lonely street fine.

Voldemort was feeling very irritated as he stood alone on the empty road. Malfoy was late, and no one, _no one_ was allowed to keep the Dark Lord waiting. Especially when they had some _so called_ good news for him.

_Well, it had better be good news, or Malfoy will have to pay for my time with his pathetic existence._

Voldemort almost smiled at the pleasant thought. Then he heard a loud crack and he saw the wizard whose arrival he had been anticipating.

"This had better be good, Lucius." Voldemort hissed at the approaching figure.

The pale wizard's face betrayed no emotion when he said, "It will be." Then without another word, the two wizards entered a grimy old pub down the road, in which several Death Eaters sat, waiting for their master. Three other wizards and witches also sat in the room, but they were all wandless, gagged and bound to their cold wooden seats.

They were all seated around a large wooden table, and only two seats were empty. One at the head of the table, which Voldemort promptly slid into, and the seat to his direct right which Lucius took quietly.

"So, was it successful then, Lucius?" Voldemortsaid, his voice barely above a whisper, "Did that idiotic potioneer actually accomplish something?"

A hint of a smirk curled at Lucius's lips when he said, "Yes, my lord." And then he pulled a carefully stopped flask of a jet black potion out of his robes and handed it to Voldemort.

For a moment Voldemort just looked at the flask. Then he slid it down the table to one of the masked Death Eaters, who was sitting next to the three gagged prisoners.

"Dolohov." Voldemort said, his voice still deathly quiet, "Could you please un-gag Miss Viola Heists over there?"

Dolohov obediently un-gagged the young witch, who stared back at him defiantly.

"Heists…you are a mudblood, are you not?" Voldemort inquired calmly.

"I'm a muggle born." Viola said very quietly. But there was a touch of pride in her voice, as if she wasn't the least bit ashamed of her filthy heritege.

"Yes, you're a mudblood, and that alone is reason for me to destroy you, but you've done something else to anger me as well. Are you aware of it?"

Viola remained silent, so Voldemort continued, "Not a month ago you saw fit to... _save _some muggles from the inferi I unleashed on your town. Is that correct?"

"They didn't deserve to die."

Voldemort let out a cold laugh, "Oh, but they did. As do you, I'm afraid…Dolohov, feed her the potion."

Dolohov obeyed, and the girl sipped the dark potion without a struggle. Then, just seconds after she swallowed, she began to shake violently and froth at the mouth. The froth was black. She shook even harder, threatening to knock her chair right over, and then she froze. Her once proud head lolled to the side and her glassy dark eyes saw nothing.

Voldemort watched this all with a mild interest, as if she were a rather dull TV program, and then he nodded. "Dolohov, un-gag the next prisoner."

The large Death Eater did so and Voldemort turned to his next victim. "So, you're a pure blood are you?"

The wizard nodded.

"We shall see...give him the potion, Dolohov." Voldemort ordered, and Dolohov forced the black substance down the old wizard's throat. Nothing happened.

Voldemort and the Death Eaters spent close to ten minutes, just watching the now frightened wizard, but he didn't show the slightest sign of distress.

Lucius could barely conceal his smug smile and Voldemort was almost smiling as well, "It would appear you were telling the truth." He said to the old wizard. "You _are _a pure blood after all. Pity, that would make you a blood traitor, which means…_Avada Kadevra_."

There was a blinding green light, and then there was only one wizard prisoner left alive. Voldemort shot a spell at him which removed the gag from his mouth, and then turned to him.

"And you, you say that you are a pure blood, do you?"

The last wizard nodded, "Y-yes, I am, p-please let me go! I-I'll serve you, I'll d-do whatever you ask just _please_ release me!"

Voldemort looked at the panic sticken wizard calculatingly. Very well. I will allow you to serve me... but first you must do me a favour, and drink some of that potion from the flask before you."

The wizard was looking frantic, "B-but I-I'm a pure blood, it w-won't do anything to me so why make me d-drink it?"

"Humor me." Voldemort sneered. There was anything but humor in his scarlet eyes.

Hands trembling, the wizard had no choice but to take a small sip of the potion, and seconds later he started trembling, almost more violently than the girl had.

"It appears that your blood _isn't _as pure as you would have led me to believe." Voldemort whispered coldly to the wizard, who was now wretching and spewing black froth. "Pity."

After he was quite sure that all three prisoners were stone dead, Voldemort turned back to Lucius, "Well done, Lucius, well done. This potion is just what I needed for my... _cleansing _of Hogwarts. I could use this to _purify_ the next generation of wizards. Of course, I'll need far more of it for that."

At this comment Lucius began to look less smug, "Actually, my lord, this is all of the potion I had…I've got the instructions on how to make more, of course…however this potion requires an incredibly rare ingredient to work; distilled Acrumantula venom. I've already used up all of my stores on this flask of potion, and I would need far more if we were to make enough for all the students at Hogwarts."

Voldemort looked angry for a moment, red eyes glinting, then thoughtful, "Acrumantula venom…that _is _rare. It certainly isn't carried in most apothecaries, if any…"

"If I may, my lord..."

Voldemort's head snapped up and his red gaze focused on the Death Eater who had spoken, "Yes, Mulciber?"

"My lord, my son is an avid potioneer, and I believe he once told me that there is a fair amount of that venom in the Hogwarts stores."

"_Of course_. How could I have forgotten? Hogwarts has the best collection of rare potions ingredients in the wizarding world. Alright then, Mulciber, your mission is to procure that venom, and brew the potion. You can make your son get it for you…and brew it for you as well; Hogwarts has a very good facility for potion brewing if memory serves. If he succeeds, then your son can take my mark. He's wanted that for a while now, I believe. Lucius, give Mulciber the potion's instructions."

Lucius grudgingly did as he was told, annoyed that his lord was more impressed by Mulciber than with him. Then the meeting was adjourned and the dark cloaks of the Death Eaters faded into the night.

*""*

"Hurry up, will you, Potter? At this rate we'll be here until midnight!"

"_Midnight_? But I've got important things to do… Merlin, I wish the patrol rounds were done already, don't you Evans?"

"UGH! If you want to finish them then _move your bloody slow_–"

"Evans, I wouldn't finish that sentence if I were you; it's not very polite, _especially_ considering your reputation as the cleanest mouthed girl in school. And besides, I _didn't_ say that I wanted to finish the rounds."

"Yes…you just said -"

"What I said was that I wished the rounds were done. Not once did I mention that _I_ wanted to be the one to do them."

"If you're insinuating, Potter, that you want me to finish the rounds for you…then you're off your bloody rocker."

"Ah, well you can't blame a guy for try– OW! Evans, you should be _ashamed_ of yourself! Hitting is a very bad habit!"

"Potter. I've spent the last half hour just talking to _you_. Believe me when I say that I'm _way_ past ashamed of myself."

"_Ouch_. That one hurt Evans."

"Oh for goodness sakes don't pout Potter! You look like a drowning puppy!"

James raised one of his eyebrows and gave Lily a cocky, and addmittedly quite attractive, grin, "Then why don't you come over here and rescue me?"

Lily rolled her eyes at him. Why, whenever they had a nice-ish conversation did Potter have to go and act all arrogant? But she had to admit, she didn't find that as infuriating as she once had.

Over the past few weeks she had forced her hate aside and tried to get along with James Potter. And the scary thing was...it hadn't been nearly as disgustingly horrible as she'd thought it would be. In fact, although she'd rather die than admit it, spending time with Potter had become almost… _fun_. Actually she had started looking foreward to it. Everyday.

_Did I just think that? No. Of course not. This is __**Potter**__ we're talking about._

"Oh shut up Potter, we don't have time for this. We're only covered half of the dungeons and it's almost eleven!"

James sighed, "Alright, alright. But you still owe me an apology for that comment you made earlier. It hurt my feelings." He gave her another adorable puppy-dog pout with wide hazel eyes, and Lily couldn't help but laugh, "I'm sorry, alright? Now can we go?"

He nodded with a wide grin, and then the two of them turned a corner and were out of Snape's sight.

He had been hiding behind an old suit of amour and watching them, and since the dungeons were very poorly lit at this time of night, neither James nor Lily had noticed.

Besides, he thought bitterly, they seemed to be too busy talking to notice anything else. They were just chatting for fun about _nothing _at all, and Potter was loving every second of it, Snape could tell.

Snape sighed inaudibly; Lily had talked to him like that, once upon a time. Now, it seemed as if she was a completely different person from the girl he'd known.

She'd sworn that she'd always hate Potter, now here she was, talking and laughing with him as if they'd been best friends forever. It sickened him. It made Severus hate Potter even more passionately than he had before. Why was it that bloody Potter got _everything_? The looks, the charm, the Quidditch skills, the money, the friends, and heck, he even had decent grades. Better than decent, Snape admitted grudgingly. And now he even had Lily. Snape felt a pang in his chest at the thought, but he knew that there was nothing he could do about this. Nothing at all.

*""*

Well...I betcha didn't see that one coming! And for the record, this is probably _my_ favourite chapter so far...

Now in case you've got short term memory loss and forgotten the Death Eather, Mulciber's son is the swine who attacked Lily on the train. You can go back and read chapter 5 to re-familiarize yourself with his character. And if you had any trouble following what happened during this chapter, with what the mudblood potion does or with what Voldy plans on doing with it, just let me know in your review & I promise I'll get back to you and clear everything up. Ok? Thanks for reading!


	14. Girl Talk vs Boy Talk

Alright, here's a L/J interaction-less chapter, but it's a really fun chapter, I think. It's just Lily and friends hanging out and being girls. Then to contrast there's a scene of the Marauder's hanging out after one of Moony's transformations. Hope you like it!

*""*

Lily, Geeta and Alice were sitting in their dormitory and painting their nails, enjoying one of the many advantages of being seventh years; free period. September had been a busy month while they were getting into the swing of their schedules and keeping up with homework, and they had spent far too many free periods in the library working. So, even Lily now agreed that they had earned a break from everything. Besides, they had just a week before the Halloween Hogsmeade visit, and they liked to plan out whom they would go with in advance.

"Frank will be coming to see me! He's going to meet me at the Three Broomsticks." Alice was saying excitedly, "I can't wait! I mean, we've been exchanging letters, but that's not the same."

Lily smiled at her friend. She knew that Alice really cared for Frank, and she also knew that he was an Auror in the Order of the Phoenix so he rarely saw her. This pained Alice, but the sweet girl never let anyone worry about her. "I'm glad for you, Alice." Lily said softly.

Geeta, who had been busy painting her nails a deep ruby red suddenly suddenly shoved her hand in front of Lily's face, "What do you think of _this_ colour, Lils? Is it flashy or trashy?"

Lily, whose make-up knowledge was about as vast as a hippogriff's, wasn't sure what to say. "Oh, it's…er…."

Geeta rolled her eyes, "Oh never mind. What do _you _think, Alice?"

"It suits your skin tone really well, Geets." Alice said honestly. "How about mine?"

"Wow, I love it! What's it called?"

"Pink Snow."

"It's so beautiful! I just _love _how it shimmers. Will you let me borrow it?"

"Of course! Can I borrow yours? What's it called?"

"Heart's Afire."

"Oh, I love that! It suits it perfectly."

Lily groaned loudly and pretended to yawn, "As fascinating as this is, can we _please_ change the subject?"

Alice laughed, "Lils, are you _sure_ that you're a girl?"

Lily stuck her tongue out at Alice and then turned to Geeta, "New topic _please_?"

"Alright, how about you? Who are _you_ going to go to Hogsmeade with?" Geeta asked with a mock innocent expression.

Lily really didn't know. In sixth year she had often just gone with her friends, and then she had gone out a couple of times with a Ravenclaw boy named Dan. Truth be told, they had never really gone much past holding hands, and they now were just friends so it would have been awkward if she went with him.

Realizing that her friend hadn't decided yet, Geeta decided to help her out, "How about James?"

"Potter?" Lily exclaimed with a look of disgust.

Geeta shrugged, "Well, you _have_ been spending a lot of time together lately…why not?"

"I haven't been hanging out with him for _fun_, Geeta! I've been _forced_ to because of my head duties! Don't you know that I hate him?" Lily was practically shouting, which she quickly realized could be interpreted as being defensive. Which she wasn't because there was absolutely nothing between her and Potter that she needed to be defensive about.

So, Lily decided to tactfully change the subject before Geeta read too much into the issue, "So anyways, who are _you_ going with, Geets? Why don't we go together?"

Geeta bit her lip, "Well, actually, there is _someone_ who I've been thinking about asking…"

Alice perked up; this was just the sort of thing which she and Geeta really enjoyed, but Lily, unfortunately, couldn't stand. "Who is it?"

Geeta sighed, "I dunno if I should even bother telling you, I mean, I don't _even_ think he'd go with me if I asked him…I can't really picture him going on a date with someone. No, I don't think I'll ask him. I'll just have to find _some other way_…maybe if I could get him alone…"

Lily rolled her eyes, "Wow, this sounds _so_ complicated. You've really put my advanced arithmancy to shame with the complexity of _asking someone to Hogsmaede_."

"Oh be quiet Lily." Alice admonished, "You wouldn't understand. But Geets you've gotten me curious..._who is it_?"

Geeta's cinnamon complexion turned slightly pink as she blushed and said, "Remus."

That succeeded in grabbing Lily's attention and she exclaimed,"Lupin? Since when?"

"Since the Quidditch tryouts. I just noticed how…well,_ intense_ he was. And after that I talked to him a couple of times and he's just so smart. And I don't just mean books, he clever with _everything_ and he's got this great sense of humor; he _alway_s knows exactly what to say. Oh, and he's got the deepest grey eyes, they're like silver pools and his brown hair is just so_ soft_ and…"

Lily groaned, "I'm sorry I asked."

"If my nails weren't wet, I'd _smack_ you for your lack of sympathy." Geeta growled, upset that Lily had broken her reverie.

"Well, as my nails _aren't_ wet – "

_WHACK_

"HEY! I'll get you for that!"

Lily laughed at the expression on Geeta's face, and then she danced up onto her four poster bed and out of her friend's reach. Once she was sure she was safe, she called down to her friends mockingly, "Oh, by the way…being witches, you could have magically dried your nails _ages_ ago. I was waiting for you two to figure that out…but apparently you guys are even _thicker_ than I thought."

For a moment Geeta and Alice simply stared at her. Then they whipped out thier wands, magically dried their nails, and grabbed their pillows advancing on Lily menacingly. Lily gulped and grabbed her own pillow, holding it out in front of her like a sword. The pillow fight that ensued would have put even the marauders to shame.

And it all happened because Lily wanted to change the subject.

*""*

"Moony? Moony? Are you awake yet?"

"No."

"Oh, we'll come back later than…"

"_Wormtail_, he's awake."

"But he said –"

Sirius sighed and gave Peter a well deserved smack on the arm, "Never mind what he said. So, are you feeling better today Moony? You won't try and bite me again will you?"

"Only if you annoy me."

This comment caused Sirius to take a big step back from Remus's bed, and Remus chuckled. Then he grimaced in pain, holding his still sore face. Out of habit more than anything else, he reached for the soothing balm on the nightstand by his bed. The balm was always there beside him because he was always put in the same hospital bed after his transformations.

Remus had started to apply the balm to the re-opened scars on his face when James ran into the hospital wing clutching a small bag. "Hey, I brought you some of your favourite Honeydukes chocolate, Moony! I had to use the cloak and map to get them so you had _better_ be grateful. Are you feeling any better?"

Remus gave his friend a small and grateful smile. "Loads now that you guys are here."

_With chocolate…_

Sirius grinned and pretended to wipe a tear from his eye. "Aw Moony! I knew you loved us!"

Then Sirius threw his arms around his friend which caused Remus to let out a loud, "OW! _Watch it_; I'm in _pain_ over here!"

"Aw, you know you're loving this! Come on Prongs, Wormtail! Join us!"

Remus closed his eyes saying, "Oh…please no…" but it was too late. James and Peter joined in the hug enthusiastically, practically crushing poor Remus in the process.

After they had properly squished their friend into pulp, James Sirius and Peter pulled back and helped themselves to Remus's bag of chocolate. Remus, who was still bed ridden, could only watch in horror as they proceeded to pull and eat treats from a bag that was well out of his reach.

_Merlin, I can __**see**__ the chocolate…but I can't get any! This is torture…_

"By the way, Moony", Sirius said through a mouthful of fudge marshmallow delight, "Did I mention who I was going with for the Halloween Hogsmaede visit tomorrow?"

Remus eyes the fudge in his friends hand predatorily, "No, and I don't really ca –"

"I'm going with Felicia Crumpet."

This, unfortunately, caught Remus off guard, and he momentarily forgot the marshmallow filled fudge. "That Slytherin girl with the blond hair? I though that she was going out with your brother Regulus?"

Sirius grinned mischievously, "Oh, she was…but then she met _me_." Sirius popped the last bit of the fudge in his mouth, and Remus cursed inwardly. Then he noticed the un-opened Toblerone bar in his bespectacled friend's hand.

"Ah. So I'll be going with James and Peter then?" Remus asked as he finally managed to swipe a bar of chocolate from the former.

"Just me, actually" James said pulling a large cube of chocolate covered sponge toffee from the bag (to replace the stolen Toblerone) , "Peter's in trouble with McGonagall. He accidentally transfigured her hat into a rabbit. And then it…well, you know…on her head."

Sirius laughed, "It was so_ classic_! And it really was an accident too!"

"Speaking of class, Moony, you missed loads of work while you were out cold. I brought that here for you too." James said handing Remus his book bag.

Remus sighed and bit into his Toblerone bar, "Maybe I should just skip the visit and finish this…"

"NO!" James cried out loudly, waking several of the Hospital Wing's other patients, "You _can't _make me go on my own, do you have any idea how bored I'll get? I brought you _chocolate_ Moony! _Chocolate_; your favourite!"

Remus couldn't help but laugh. Partly at his friend and partly at the room full of angry patients who were now glaring pointedly at the Marauders, "Alright I'll come. But just so we can get some more chocolate while we're there."

James grinned, "Anything for you ol' Moony ol' pal! Especially after what you went through yesterday…"

Remus grabbed the sponge toffee from James's hand and grinned back, "Good."

*""*

As you can probably tell, I love the Marauders (minus Wormtail and especially Moony) and I also love chocolate... I also really enjoyed doing the girls scene. I was sorta poking fun at the way teenage girls behave...even though I am one =]

Alright, the next chapter is gonna be the first part of the Hogsmeade visit, which will have some L/J but is mostly R/G. L/J is coming up later though...along with more of the - you guessed it - PLOT!


	15. Hogsmeade Part One

Wowie, this story's just speeding along now isn't it? We're definately more than halfway through. We're probably closer to two thirds through actually...

Well, it's time for another long one...this chapter starts out slowly, but it gets better. Well, I think it does, but I _am_ a tad biased...

*""*

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Lily opened her eyes and turned off her watch alarm. Then she jumped out of bed and got ready for the Halloween Hogsmaede visit. As she brushed her teeth and washed her face, she could hear the wind whistling loudly. She could already tell that it was going to be a very chilly day, so she dressed accordingly in a maroon sweater (with dark green stripes) and dark jeans. Then she combed her hair and decided to go down to breakfast by herself; her two friends were showing no signs of waking any time soon.

Shortly after she had left, though, Geeta shot up out of bed. She had just remembered what day it was and she quickly showered and brushed. Then she spent several minutes in front of the dorm mirror deciding what to wear and how to fix her hair. She really wanted to look good that day, because that was she planned on _accidentally _bumping into Remus at Hogsmaede. After that she woke Alice and helped to get her looking her best too; Alice would be seeing Frank for the first time in months.

The two of them met up with Lily in the Great Hall as quickly as they could, but besides giving her a quick hello, the girls didn't talk to each other. All three were too pre-occupied with their own thoughts for conversation.

Finally, Dumbledore announced that it was time for the students to leave for Hogsmaede. The trip there passed rather uneventfully for the girls, and they spent most of it waiting impatiently to arrive.

As soon as they got there, Geeta and Lily escorted Alice to the Three Broomsticks where her Prince Charming - Frank - was waiting for her. The scene quickly became quite awkward, so Lily and Geeta decided to excuse themselves and they headed back onto the blustery street.

"Where to now, Geets?" Lily asked. Her friend had seemed especially pre-occupied all morning and now was her chance to find out why.

Geeta scanned the area with her dark eyes, as if searching for something, and then her face lit up, "Honeydukes. Let's go!"

Now Lily was feeling very confused. As far as she knew, Geeta was _completely _health crazy. She tried to avoid setting foot into Honeydukes because she knew that if she did, she would end up buying loads of chocolate and eating it too. So why was she going there now?

Lily looked up at the shop, and her question was answered for her. Potter and Remus were both headed for Honeydukes as well. "Oh, no. No no…Please, _please_ tell me that you aren't planning what I think you are."

In reply Geeta gave Lily an evil grin. "Could you please just keep James busy while I get Remus alone?"

"But I –"

"I'm asking you as a friend. I really like him!" Geeta gave Lily her most imploring look, and Lily had no choice but to say, "_Fine_, I'll do it."

"Thank you so much! From now on I promise that I'll do whatever you say, and –"

"_Sure _you will, Geets. Can we just get this over with?"

"Whatever you say!" And with that Geeta happily pranced off towards Honeydukes with an amused Lily behind her.

*""*

"Moony, can we go check out the specialty candies now?"

"Prongs, we came here for a reason; chocolate."

"You are one _determined _wolfy."

"_Prongs_!"

"Right, sorry. But seriously, they have a whole new collection of specialty candies out now…"

"Prongs, you should have thought of that _before_ you took my chocolate."

Geeta and Lily had been hiding behind a display of giant candy balloons, and eavesdropping on this intelligent conversation when Geeta saw her chance to cut in. Dragging Lily behind her, she approached the two boys and smiled, "Oh, hi! Fancy seeing you here, huh? What's going on?"

James smiled back at her; the two were good friends thanks to Quidditch. "Hey Geets, we were just deciding whether to check out the new candy or go to the back rooms for some chocolate."

Geeta feigned a surprised but pleased look and said, "Oh really? What a coincidence, Lily and I were just debating the same thing, weren't we?"

"Huh? Oh…right, we were."

Geeta subtly elbowed Lily for her slip up and then continued, "How about I go to the back to get some chocolate with Remus, and Lily you can go see the new candies like you wanted!"

"Sounds good!" Lily said enthusiastically. But inside her thoughts were more along the lines of _Geeta you bloody diddle, I'm going to get you for this…_

Remus shrugged, not really caring who he went with so long as he got some chocolate, but James was feeling a bit more apprehensive.

_I'm gonna get to spend some time with Lily! And we won't be discussing Head Duties! But…then... there __is__ the fact that she hates me most days…_

_But on some days we're almost friends! Plus, she doesn't __really__ hate me anymore…she just finds me annoying. There is still hope…_

"Er, Potter?"

"What? Oh right…" James realized that he had been daydreaming and that Remus and Geeta had left, so he said, "Shall we go to the display, then?"

"That's why I'm here isn't it?"

The two of them walked over to the display of specialty candies in awkward silence, and James wasn't at all sure what to say. Usually when they were together they just talked about the task they had at hand. Or, more specifically, Lily complained about how he wasn't doing it right and James made her laugh with a lame excuse. But now he wasn't sure how to break the silence. He knew that he should say something witty…something clever…

"So, it's nice weather we're having huh?"

James mentally kicked himself for saying something so lame, and Lily laughed, "Actually, it's freezing out."

"Oh, come on Evans _buck up_! This is nothing."

Lily raised an eyebrow, "Where are you from, the North Pole? Hmmm…that would explain so much…"

"Diddle! You know my secret! Santa will be _furious_."

Lily couldn't help but laugh at James's serious tone. Then she noticed one of the more interesting candies on the shelf. "Ugh, pepper imps!"

James looked at the box where she was pointing and saw some innocent looking red, imp shaped sweets. "What's wrong with them?"

Lily gave James a look, "_Clearly_ you've never tried one. And trust me, you don't want to."

James perked up at this, deciding that eating the imps might impress Lily. "Yes I do!"

"I don't think you'll be able to take the…er, flavour." Lily said warningly. She was having a flashback of the first time she had tried the sweet, and it was not one of her fonder memories.

"Is that a challenge, Evans?"

"No, I –"

"I'll eat _five_ pepper imps if you do, Evans. If you refuse then I'll know that you are a cowardly _custard_."

"And you are a _git_."

"So you're in?" James asked, knowing that Lily's pride wouldn't let her refuse.

Lily considered this. Then she figured… why not? Potter would probably be done after one imp, and then she could mock him about it forever. "Let's do this."

_Meanwhile, in another part of Honeydukes..._

"So, Remus, why don't we check out the chocolate in here?" Geeta asked, gesturing towards a room in the very back of the shop.

"Sure, are you going to get something from in there?" Remus inquired.

Geeta shook her head, "No, but you might find something."

"But you haven't picked _anything_ up yet. Aren't you going to buy something?"

"I really didn't come for the chocolate." Geeta said in her flirtiest voice. Unfortunately Remus was hopeless when it came to girls, and didn't notice her obvious interest in him.

"Did you come for the other candy then? This place has everything, I'm sure you'll find something you like."

"Oh, I've already found it." Geeta said, trying again to make Remus aware that she liked him.

He turned away from the shelves of chocolate to face her, his gorgeous eyes looking at her curiously "Why didn't you say so earlier? I didn't mean to make you wait for me; let's go get your candy."

_Oh my gosh, his eyes aren't grey; they're ice blue! But he's so clueless..._

Geeta sighed, "No it's all right. We'll finish up in here first."

Remus grinned, "Thanks. So, how's Quidditch coming?" he asked to make conversation as he began picking up various bars of chocolate and putting them in a paper bag.

"Oh, it's going well. Sirius has us all working hard for that game against Slytherin next week."

"Sirius is working hard? That's a first." Remus quipped.

"Quidditch is the only thing he takes seriously." Geeta added. "So how about you, Remus, how are _you_ doing?"

Remus looked away from her as he said, "I'm fine."

Geeta decided to try a new tactic on him, "Really? But I heard that you were in the hospital wing yesterday because of your…condition."

It worked; Remus's head instantly whipped up, and he looked her in the eyes, startled. Then he took her by the arm and pulled her into one of the small backrooms, closing the door behind him. "You know about that?" he whispered urgently.

Geeta, who was finding it really hard to breathe as his eyes bored into hers, could only nod.

"You know that I'm a…" Remus fell silent as if it pained him to say the word, so Geeta said it for him, "Werewolf."

Remus closed his eyes and nodded dejectedly, "How did you find out?"

"I didn't. Lily did and she told me."

"I see."

Remus was looking miserable, and Geeta was starting to wonder if her approach had been such a good idea after all. "So." Remus said quietly after a long period of silence, "Are you afraid of me? Or disgusted."

Geeta was horrified, "No, I –"

Remus gave her a humorless smile, "Then you were curious. That's why you wanted to talk to me. You wanted to see the... _monster_ up close, is that it?"

Geeta swallowed hard. "No no, that's not it at all! I…well... I just wanted to make sure that you were alright."

Remus was silent, but there was a soft look in his eyes which Geeta had never seen there before. He had never looked at her like that before.

Tentatively, Geeta took his hand, and for a moment they just stood together, in that chocolate room, in silence. Not the awkward silence that was so common for teenagers, but it was a sort of silent understanding. Geeta understood why Remus showed no interest in girls; he was afraid that they would leave him if they ever found out about his condition, and Remus realized that perhaps it was time to let someone other than his three best friends into his closely guarded heart.

_Kiss me, come on and kiss me Remus! It's the perfect time for it! Maybe if I think this hard enough he'll hear it…_

Remus abruptly let go of Geeta's hand and said, "Er…I guess we'd better go… And Geeta? Thanks."

_WHAT! We may never get an opportunity like this again and you want to leave? Cleary the signal got messed up or something, because that is definitely __not__ the message I was sending…_

Remus turned to leave the small room, and Geeta knew that she had to do something to stop him. "Wait, Remus, what about the chocolate?"

"I've got enough, thanks."

_Oh, for the love of Merlin!_

Then Geeta decided to take matters into her own hands. Remus certainly wasn't about to kiss her because he was afraid he'd scare her or some such diddle, but that didn't stop her. Just before Remus turned to leave the room Geeta threw herself at him, pinning him against a tall glass display of rare chocolates. Tangling her fingers into his soft brown hair she pulled his face down to hers and kissed him right on the mouth.

At first Remus only felt pure shock and surprise. Then when that faded he realized that he was feeling happier than he had in a long time. Holding Geeta in his arms and kissing her made him feel like a normal teenage wizard, who could have a pretty girlfriend he loved, and snog her whenever he wanted without having to worry about full moons or his bleak future.

And the best part of all was that she tasted of chocolate.

*""*

Fluff overload huh?, I mainly added this because in most stories Sirius and James get all the fun, and I thought that Remus deserved some too =] Plus I needed to set up for later scenes. Thanks for reading!

IMPORTANT NOTICE SO DON'T IGNORE IT! READING THIS IS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!!!!! - Alright, from now own, I'm gonna try and update every Sunday. That's because, as you're probably aware, my updates are rather erratic (completely random) and I figured that you'd be happier if you knew what to expect. That said, if I get, say, ten reviews on a new chapter, I might be compelled to update earlier and then update again on Sunday, because if that many people bothered reviewing I should put some effort in too, right?

Macawtopia out =]


	16. Hogsmeade Part Two

Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone who's reviewed so far, _especially_ those stupendous people who review every time (you know who you are!). You guys are brilliantly, wonderfully, fantastically, marvelously, spectacularly awstruck! And most of you are way to kind; you're boosting my already dangerously high ego =] Not that I mind...

Secondly, thanks for your patience, and for sticking with me. I know y'all are probably super busy now with school, sports, band, volunteering, etc (I know I am) so I'm glad you're taking the time to read this.

Alright, now that I'm done thanking you guys, enjoy!

*""*

"My poor mouth! It _burns_!"

"That's a good thing; perhaps it will help you to keep your big mouth shut."

"Evans, this is _not _funny! I'm in some serious pain here!"

"Oh, 'buck up' Potter! You've only had two pepper imps, there are still _three_ to go!"

"Aw, sweet diddle I can't take this! It's _too_ hot…take pity on me, Evans! I'm from the North bloody Pole remember? I'm not used to heat..."

Lily smiled sweetly at James and for one beautiful moment he thought that she was going to call the pepper imp eating contest off and let him spit the burning candy out. Instead, she happily popped a third imp in her mouth and waited for him to do the same.

They were half way through the pepper imp eating contest which James had started earlier, and they were now sitting at one of the small tables near the front of Honeydukes which had a god view of the busy street. Not that James really cared about their location at the moment.

"Have _mercy_, Evans! I'm gonna _dieee_!"

She pretended to look pensive for a few moments, and then she said, "That would mean that I would have to do _your_ Head duties as well as my own, wouldn't it?"

"Yes, and you don't want that, right!"

Lily took a long time to consider this, and by the time she spoke James's entire face had turned a bright red, and he was bouncing up and down in his chair. His eyes were watering, and Lily almost laughed.

"Alright, Potter. I'll let you forfeit. You can spit that out now."

"Wait…forfeit? So you'd win?"

Lily smiled widely, "Mmmhmmm."

James was torn. On the one hand, there was the fact that the imps were practically burning a hole in his tongue, and on the other hand, there was impressing Lily and saving his pride.

He grabbed another pepper imp and grudgingly put it in his mouth.

About five agonizingly painful minutes later, the contest was over. They had both managed to finish the repulsive candies, and James bought them both some nice ice mice to help their mouths recover.

They were both sucking on the soothing candies when Sirius entered the shop laughing like a maniac. He ran up to James, and between barks of laughter he managed to say, "Felicia was on a date with me…Regulus came to win her back…Zonko's exploding dung bombs on both the diddles…priceless!"

James's first impulse was to give Sirius a high five and join in the laughter, which he started to do, but then he remembered who he was with. So he said, "Why'd you do that, Padfoot?"

Sirius's face froze, "Prongs, I _hate _my brother. Besides, they probably had it coming, the Slytherin gits. Reggy likes to jinx muggleborns for fun, and Felicia told me that she _liked_ that about him. Seemed to think it was a noble thing, the bloody diddle."

Lily suddenly felt as if her world had been turned upside down. "Wait, you did that to your brother just because of something he _might_ have done? You stole the girl he loves and embarrassed him?"

Sirius turned to Lily and muttered darkly, "I've _seen_ him cursing people, alright? And the snot nosed idiot _brags _about it to our parents. He's nothing like me; he hates me and I hate him."

Something about Sirius's tone and words reminded Lily of Petunia. Although Lily and her sister were nothing alike, and hardly got along, Lily just couldn't see herself hurting her sister the way Sirius hurt Regulus. She didn't hate her enough for that.

"I-I think I'll go and see what Alice is up to." Lily said, excusing herself. But she actually had no intentions on disturbing her friend and Frank. She just wanted some time alone to walk back to Hogwarts and think about her sister, who hadn't bothered to respond to the letter Lily had left her.

After she was out of earshot, James turned to glare at his friend, "Padfoot! I was actually getting along with her, then you just waltzed in and scared her away!"

"Scared her away? I was just telling her my life's story!"

"Which _is_ pretty scary. After all you _are_ a *murderous raving lunatic..."

"_Ha ha_, very funny Spoons. So, what happened to Moony?"

James's glare intensified, "_Enough _with the Spoons thing already! And Moony went with Cow to the back rooms to get some chocolate."

Ignoring James's foul mood, Sirius smiled, "Chocolate? Excellent, let's go join them." And then he happily skipped off to the back rooms of Honeydukes which contained their vast collection of exotic chocolates. Sighing, James followed him.

"Is he there?"

"Nope, is he in that one?"

"Nuh uh."

"Zero Moony's in here."

"Zip."

"Empty."

"Nada."

"Pumpkins."

"What?"

"There are chocolate pumpkins in here."

"Aw wicked, I'm getting one!"

"..."

After checking all of the other rooms and finding them Moony-less, James and Sirius threw open the door to the last chocolate room hopefully.

But neither was prepared for what they saw. Remus was in the middle of a passionate embrace with Geeta, one arm around her waist and the other stroking her long, dark hair. They broke apart when the door slammed open, both blushing deeply. James and Sirius's jaws dropped to the floor, and for a moment, all four teenagers felt as if they had just been petrified.

Then, "OH MY BLOODY CHOCOLATE COVERED DIDDLE!!! PRONGS, DID YOU SEE WHAT I JUST SAW?"

"Rare Mayan bon-bon's with cinnamon filling?"

"NO! Well, that too, but Moony, _good boy_ _Moony_ was in a dark corner _snogging _Geeta. Not a quick peck on her cheek but a full out, passionate _snog fest_!"

"Oh, I saw _that_ too."

Ignoring James, Sirius marched up to Remus and began vigorously shaking his hand, "Well done, _well done _I must say, Moony! I always knew you had it in you; you're almost as good a kisser as I am!"

Remus sighed, "Ah...Padfoot, _what are _you talking about?"

Sirius cleared his throat and took on a pompous tone, "To prove yourself a true Marauder, you must break the rules and snog a girl senseless at least _once_ before graduation. And that was just _spectacular_, fantastic job!"

Remus blinked. Geeta blinked. And then Sirius started laughing like a mad man, savouring the looks on Remus and Geeta's faces. James rolled his eyes at his friend's antics, and then he pulled Sirius out of the room to let Geeta and Remus have some much needed time alone. Since they now had nothing better to do, the two Marauders decided to head back to Hogwarts (to publicize the fact that Moony had a girlfriend). They were just leaving the village when James heard a taunting "_Potter_!" coming from behind him. He instantly recognized the voice and he whirled around, whipping out his wand. "Get lost, Snape. I'm not in the mood for you."

Snape pulled his own wand out and sneered, "What _are_ you in the mood for then? Spending some _quality time_ with the dirty_ mudblood_?"

At this comment it became very hard for James to control his temper, and it was even harder for him to control Sirius's; "_Leave him_, mate. He's not worth our time."

Snape ignored them and continued his taunting, "Yes, you _do _wish that you were with the mudblood, don't you _Potty_?" You think I don't know that? That I don't know the way you follow her around like a bloody _dog_, wishing that she would pay you some attention? Well I do, and so does everyone else with half a brain at this school. And you know what else, _Potter_? You're just wasting your time. The mudblood _hates_ your filthy guts, and she always will."

James couldn't contain his anger a second longer. He had tried not to let Snivellous get to him, but the rotten snake had finally gone too far, "_Expelliarmous_!"

Snape blocked and fired back with a poorly aimed, "_Stupefy_!" The wild spell shot towards a nearby building, and rebounded off a window, hitting Sirius from behind.

"You're going to regret that, Snivellous." James growled as his friend fell unconscious, "_Rictusempra_!"

With a blinding red light, Snape was knocked back off of his feet and onto the cobblestone path. For a moment he didn't move, then he jabbed his wand at James silently.

James fell to the ground, writhing. He could see nothing but a harsh, unyielding, red and he felt a burning pain all over his skin as if he had been thrown into a pit of scarlet, scalding lava which would burn and melt his flesh right off his bones. Squinting hard, he just managed to open up a tiny, and hazy field of view through which he could only see Snape's triumphant sneering face.

James could hardly move his body from pain, but he knew that if he didn't act soon he would pass out. He was bent and contorted, forced into an unnatural position by the spell. He felt as though his limbs would all snap right out of their joints if he waited too long, and James knew that if his face hadn't been frozen earlier, he would have been screaming out uncontrollably.

The diddle had used the Cruciatus curse.

Focusing all of his energy and magic as well as he could, considering the pain he was in, James made a desperate attempt to stop Snape. He cast a silent _Diffendo_ at him to distract him and break his focus. The spell took more effort than any other he had performed in his entire life.

It worked. James's spell hit Snape's belt, snapping it in half and letting the git's trouser's fall down to his scrawny knees. This succeeded in distracting him and releasing James from the curse.

Feeling slightly dazed from the pain he had been experiencing earlier, it took a moment for James to find his footing and regain the use of his aching limbs. That moment was all Snape needed. While using one hand to hold up his trousers, he used the other to fire a silent _Levicorpus_ at James.

James was hoisted up in the air by one ankle and his glasses slid down his nose. Swearing loudly, James tried in vain to catch his glasses before they hit the ground, but as he couldn't even see them that was impossible.

"Aw, did poor Potty lose his glasses?" Snape taunted after he had re-secured his pants, "How will the _dirty mudblood_ recognize him without his _bug-eyes_?"

Blinded by fury (and the lack of glasses) James shot a very powerful _Stupefy_ at his opponent. A _dangerously_ powerful _Stupefy_. And it didn't help that Sirius chose that exact moment to wake up and stun Snape as well.

Long story short, Snape was blasted into the brick wall of the nearest building by the force of the two jinxes, his skull hitting the wall with a sickening _crack_, and he was knocked out cold. His body fell like a rag doll into the pile of fall leaves below him, and James fell to the ground with him. James rubbed his sore head and was stowing his wand when he heard a loud shout directed at him;

"POTTER! What did you _do_ to him?!?"

James, felt his blood turn ice cold. He slid his glasses back onto his face and he turned to face the person who had called him. Swallowing hard, he said, "Evans, it's not what it looks like…"

The livid redhead marched up to James and stood between him and the unconscious Snape, green eyes narrowed, "Really? Because it looks like you and Sirius decided to have another go at _tormenting _Snape for fun. I should have known."

James felt a pang in his chest when he saw the disappointed, angry and almost hurt look on Lily's face. She was acting as if he had betrayed her, and he had. He had let Snape's pointless taunting bother him, and he had forgotten himself.

James looked down, too ashamed to meet those emerald eyes, and Lily turned her back on him, running towards the knocked out boy. Kneeling by his side, she pointed her wand to his head, and whispered something softly. Snape's stony eyes snapped open, and his face went through a series of different emotions. First he looked confused, then angry, then he noticed the pretty redhead who was leaning over him and he looked at her almost contently. As if all he wanted was for her to stay right there. Then his face took on its usual cold look.

"Are you alright?" Lily asked him worriedly. Even though Snape had set her up on the train, and she hadn't forgiven him for calling her a mudblood all those years ago, her conscience wouldn't let her leave him alone and in pain.

"I'm fine. But Lily –"

Lily cut him off by briskly getting to her feet, "Well, if you're fine I'll just be going." She turned on her heel and stalked back towards the castle, ignoring both James and Snape as they called her back to apologize.

She didn't think that she would ever be able to forgive either of them.

*""*

*A 'murderous raving lunatic' is what Ron calls Sirius in the third HP movie, if you didn't catch that earlier.

And don't worry, Lily's exaggerating...she and James are cool again next chapter =]


	17. Halloween Horrors and Feelings

Snape was feeling awful as he walked aimlessly through Hogsmeade village. His plan to end Lily and James's friendship had been completely successful, but for some reason that didn't please him. He felt miserable, and every time he closed his eyes he saw the hurt look on Lily's face.

Snape had just decided that he might as well just go back to Hogwarts and get started on the Halloween feast when he felt someone grab his arm and start pulling him in the opposite direction he was going. Snape reacted as quickly as he could, pulling himself from his attacker's grasp and whipping out his wand.

"_Cool it_, Prince. Don't you recognize your friends when you see them?", drawled his attacker.

Snape lowered his wand, "What do you _want_ Mulciber?"

"Come now, is that any way to talk to your friend? But, I can't really blame you for being in such a foul mood can I? Not after the whooping Potter just gave your hide."

Snape was now feeling furious. The loathsome boy had been watching him, but hadn't bothered to help? If Black was ever in trouble and Potter saw him, he would drop whatever he was doing and rush over to help him. But when a Slytherin saw a friend in trouble, he just sat back and watched the show. "_What do you want_, Mulciber?"

Mulciber's wide smirk fell, and was replaced by a threatening look, "I'll tell you, but not here. Follow me." Then the pale boy turned around and headed down the street, kicking up autumn leaves as he went. For a moment, Snape considered not following him, but as Mulciber had many friends in high places he decided not to risk it.

Snape soon realized that they were headed down the lonely path to the Hog's Head which wasn't a surprise; it was a common Death Eater hang out in those days, and students were advised to steer clear of it.

Inside, Snape recognized a few other young Death Eaters. There was the dull boy Avery who just did whatever he was told, Regulus Black, Felicia Crumpet and Bellatrix Lestrange, all of whom had the same ambition; to become the dark lord's favourite when they graduated.

They were all seated around a large wooden table, and Mulciber gestured for Snape to join them. "Now, while the Prince was getting his arse kicked by Potty, I was given a message by my dad's owl." Mulciber drawled. "The message said that the Dark Lord had a mission... for _me_."

Bellatrix looked at Mulciber with a mix of jealousy and longing, which make him smirk before continuing, "My job is to steal some acrumantula venom from Slughorn's private stores, and then brew a potion that will _eliminate_ all of the mudbloods at Hogwarts."

Snape felt his insides turn to ice as Bellatrix shrieked, "YEEEESSS!" So, he gave Mulciber a cool look, "That sounds interesting, but how exactly are you planning on doing it? Slughorn would never let you have the venom, and it's impossible to get into his stores without permission; it's magically sealed. Plus there's the fact that you're rubbish at potions."

Snape tried to seem indifferent as he said this, but his heart was beating faster than he had thought was possible.

Mulciber looked angry at first, then thoughtful, "Could _you_ get permission from Slughorn, Prince?"

_And why should I?_

"Hardly; Slughorn and I aren't exactly close friends. And I'm _not_ brewing that thing for you either; do you think _I'm_ going to risk getting caught making a dangerous potion and getting expelled?"

Mulciber was looking very frustrated now, "Then w_ho can_ get Slughorn's permission?" He shouted.

Bellatrix frowned, and then a slow smirk appeared on her pale face, "I bet that mudblood could do it. _Evans_. We could use the Imperious curse on 'er and she'd get that venom for us. Sluggy just _loves_ 'er."

Mulciber was now smiling as well, "Yeah, and she's fair at potions…if we made her, she'd brew it perfectly for us. Then we could make her the first to drink it!"

"No!" Snape shouted, "I mean... if she died before everyone else, the teacher's would get suspicious and we'd have a better chance of getting caught."

"Good thinking Prince. Pity though, I would have enjoyed watching her die…So. Who'll perform the Imperious curse on the filthy mudblood?"

"Aren't _you_ going to, oh _great one_?"

"Oh no, Prince, I'm can't risk getting caught and ruining my family name. So I'm going to let one of you have the fun this time. One of you gets to control the mudblood...gets to make her brew her own demise..."

_NO! I can't let that happen...not to her..._

"I'll do it." The words were out of his mouth before he could even think about them

"Woah, Prince, I didn't think you had it in you! I can see why you'd be so anxious to do it though; this spell will make the mudblood into your puppet, she'd serve you like a silver platter if you made her. But all right, here are the potion's instructions." Mulciber started to hand a piece of parchment to Snape, but then he withdrew, "Oh, but Prince…if you don't do this properly, or if you mess this up on purpose, my _father_ will be after you. Him and the entire force of the Dark Lord. So _don't_ ruin this for me."

In reply Snape silently took the potion instructions from the other boy's hand and left the pub.

*""*

James was feeling very alone, even though his friends were all sitting near him. They were all attending the Halloween feast, which James normally loved. There were enchanted jack-o-lanterns floating over head with large bats flitting around them, bowls and bowls of puddings, chocolates and other sweets of all kinds, and best of all, classes were cancelled. And, as it was late, the ceiling was a starry night's sky, and most of the younger student's had already gone to bed.

At the same time the year before, James had been with Sirius, preparing for an epic prank involving large amounts of fog and spiders, but at present pranks were the farthest thing from James's mind. He had messed up, big time. He had proven that he was just as immature as Lily thought he was, and he felt ashamed.

"Yeah, we showed him, didn't we Prongs?" Sirius was bragging to Peter.

James sighed, "We sure did…"

It was then that Sirius noticed his friend's off mood, "Look, James, we did the right thing. Snivellous was _asking_ for it. I mean, heck, he used the _Cruciatus curse_ on you! I bet Evans doesn't know that, and if she did she'd forgive you in a heartbeat."

Peter's beady eyes went wide, "He used the Cruciatus curse?"

James shook his head at Peter impatiently, and then leaned in to whisper to Sirius, "I _can't_ tell her that. Besides, I deserved it."

"_What_?" Sirius exclaimed in his very best whisper–shout, "You _deserved_ it?"

"Well… yeah. Evans was right; we _did_ torment him for no reason. Besides, he misses Evans. And I know that if I was in his place, and she was with me, I'd do a lot worse than the Cruciatus curse to someone who bothered her."

Sirius sighed, "Well if you don't tell her that... how are you gonna get her to forgive you?"

"I'll think of something."

Sirius rolled his eyes, "Good luck with_ that_."

*""*

Lily was feeling rather sorry for herself as she sat alone on her bed in her dormitory. Geeta was down at the feast with Remus, having a ball, and Alice was still in Hogsmeade with Frank. Lily had no one to spend time with, and it would be the first ever Halloween she spent all alone.

_You have no one to blame for that but yourself, dearie._

_What do you mean?_

_If you just went down and talked to James, perhaps you'd understand why he did what he did in Hogsmeade and forgive him. Then you could spend Halloween with __him__. Maybe Snape deserved what he got; don't you remember what happened on the train?_

_First of all, why on_ _Earth_ _would I want to spend time with Potter anyways? And second of all…I'm having a conversation with myself in my head. I think I've finally been driven to insanity. It must have been all those bloody pepper imps I ate…_

Lily groaned aloud and rolled over onto her stomach. She grabbed a book from underneath her pillow and started to read it to take her mind off her troubles.

Just as she had started to get engrossed in the story, she heard a loud grating noise coming from outside the dorm, followed by a shout. Then she heard the dull _thump_ of someone hitting the ground and a low moan.

Lily jumped out of bed to see what happened, and she got to the staircase just in time to see the steps re-forming. They had clearly been lowered to form a long slide, and that could mean only one thing; a boy had tried climbing them.

Lily dashed down the spiral stairs to see if whomever it was was alright, but she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw James Potter on the ground rubbing his head and looking very confused.

"What the bloody diddle just happened?" He asked, more to himself that to anyone else.

"Well, in the old days, boys were considered less trustworthy than girls - and for a good reason if you ask me – so they cast a spell on these stairs to keep boys from climbing them."

James looked up at her, startled. Clearly he hadn't noticed her, and wasn't at all pleased to see her standing on the steps above him. "Evans?"

Lily rolled her eyes, "No, it's Peter."

James allowed himself a small smile, "Why Peter, aren't you looking pretty today?"

Lily couldn't help but laugh, but then she turned her face back into a mask of annoyment, "Well, Potter?"

"_Well_ what?" James asked, climbing to his feet.

"Well, you obviously had a reason for going to the girl dormitories, what was it?"

James looked down at his feet, "I wanted to talk to _you_, actually... To apologize."

Lily scoffed, "Why apologize to _me_?"

"Because I - I let you down." James said quietly, "I told you that I'd take my position as Head seriously, and Head's definitely don't get into duels at Hogsmeade."

"Then why did you do it?" Lily asked accusingly.

_Why would you do that? Why would you let me down? I thought that you didn't hurt people for fun anymore; I thought I was wrong about you… and then you went and ruined everything. Why?_

James shook his head dejectedly, "I dunno, Snape was taunting me and he jinxed Sirius, and…well, I just lost control. But I didn't mean to, _really_. Oh, don't stay mad at me, _please_ don't Evans. Because that would just make the prefect meetings _really_ awkward."

What James _didn't_ say was that he didn't think he could bear having her act indifferent around him again, it hurt him too much.

Lily just sighed, knowing that there was no point pretending to be mad anymore. Her resolve to stay angry at him had broken the moment she had seen James lying on the cold stone floor, "Alright, I forgive you. But I'm _just_ doing it for the prefects, _alright_, Potter?"

_That's a lie and you know it dearie._

_Why does the voice in my head sound like my mother? _

_Because she always knows what's best._

_Oh, shut up._

"_Alright_ Evans. Now, whaddya say we go down to the Halloween feast and enjoy the fact that we have no classes? Because everyone needs to let loose every now and then, even you. What were you doing in your dorm anyways, studying?"

"Oh _shut up_, Potter." Lily said in a mock angry tone as she followed James out of the portrait hole.

"Aha! So you _were_ studying!"

"You may find this _shocking_, Potter, but unlike you, most students _do_ study every now and then. Not everyone is _blessed_ with your _incredible_ natural talent."

"I _am_ incredibly talented, aren't I?"

"Potter, that was _sarcasm_. Sarcasm, meet Potter."

James held out his hand and pretended to shake someone else's hand grandly, "Hello Sarcasm, it's an absolute _pleasure_ to meet you! I'm the '_incredibly talented_' James Potter, and this is my good friend Lily, who was studying on Halloween. Isn't that sad?"

"I was _not_ studying!"

"Was too."

"Was not."

"Was too... infinity!"

"Oh, yes, _that's_ mature Potter."

"When did I ever say that I was mature, Evans?"

Lily laughed, and decided that even though she still hated Potter, spending Halloween with him was_ far_ better than spending it alone.

*""*

And so the plot thickens. If you were paying attention, you'd know that Snape has been assigned to cast and Imperious curse on Lily, to force her to make that potion I mentioned earlier. The one that kills muggle borns and leaves other wizards and witches untouched. If you're not quite sure what I'm talking about, just say so in your review, and I'll try to make the story clearer.

So, please,_ please_ review, and check back next Sunday! (Goshie, I sound like one of those cartoons that comes on every Saturday, you know, like, _see you next time boys and girls!_ Those cartoons used to scare me...)

Oh, and BTW, if I get too few reviews, I may conveniently forget to update one week...Lolz, I'm kidding. I'm not _that_ bad a person =]


	18. Becoming Proper Friends

Here's a_ really_ short chapter. It's a set up for the _really_ big one which is pretty much the climax of my little story. And I've said too much already, so with out any further ado...

*""*

"Cow! Stop drooling over Moony and do what you're supposed to be doing!"

"I am!"

"I meant looking for the snitch!"

Geeta turned her broom and glared at Sirius, "I _was_ looking for the snitch!"

"Yeah well you're _not going to find it in Moony's hair_! Concentrate, we have our first game of the season in a few days, and it's against _Slytherin_!" Sirius bellowed before flying over to shout at the keeper.

"The game's coming up? I had _no bloody idea_." Geeta muttered darkly before flying to her favourite look out position above the pitch. She slowly and carefully scanned the area for a flash of gold, then she spotted it behind one of the goalposts. She flew over as fast as she could for a quick catch, and then heard Sirius blow his whistle.

"Alright, great practice everyone! So, I need you all to have a good night's rest and then report back here at six tomorrow for one last practice. The game will be at eleven, so get here at ten to warm up. See you then, and guys, always remember…GRYFFINDOR FOR THE CUP!"

The whole team let out a great cheer, and then headed of to their respective change rooms. Most of them were feeling really psyched; nothing was more exhilarating than playing the first game of the season.

*""*

James was running faster than he'd ever run before; he nearly tripped over his robes twice, and he almost knocked a small Hufflepuff boy right over as he sprinted through the stone halls of Hogwarts. It was nearly time for the semi-monthly Prefects meeting, but he had been so caught up in Quidditch that he had almost forgotten.

Finally, after several minutes of hard running and praying that Lily wouldn't murder him, he burst into the meeting room, frightening most of the prefects and annoying the Head girl.

She glared at him, and then said, "Thank you for deciding to show up, Potter. We're terribly sorry for disturbing you. Perhaps you'd prefer us to reschedule for a time that is more convenient? You know, for _you_?"

James looked at Lily with guilt in his hazel eyes, "I'm _so _sorry, I had a Quidditch practice and Sirius called me to stay behind and do some extra training, and well... I just lost track of the time."

_Why is it that I'm __always__ apologizing to her? Is that normal in boy/girl relationships? What is our relationship anyways? We don't exactly hate each other anymore, so are we acquaintances? No, we know each other to well for that. Could we, possibly, be...friends?_

James zoned back in just in time to see Lily frown at him, "Good to see where your priorities are. Now, as we were saying…"

For James the rest of the meeting seemed to fly by. Night patrol schedules, lunch patrol schedules, student clubs…it all started to blur in his head. He was just waiting for the Prefects meeting to end so that it would be time for the Head meeting. That meant that he and Lily would get to spend some time together alone, and for some reason Lily was a lot more fun when it was just the two of them, and no one could see her messing around.

"And that concludes today's meeting. Any questions?"

"No m'am!"

"Thank you for answering, Ray, but there was really no need if you didn't actually have a question. You are dismissed."

The prefects obediently filed away, and James couldn't help but let out a snigger as he took the seat next to hers for their meeting.

Lily turned to glare at him, "_What_ is so amusing, Potter?"

"Nothing"

"_Potter_..." Lily said in a warning tone.

James shrugged, "Well, Evans, it's just that I couldn't help but notice your similarity to Professor McGonagall."

"_What_?"

Lily looked slightly offended, so James hurried to explain, "During the meetings, I mean. You're just as strict and proper, and I find it amusing that you're still trying to be what you're not."

Lily blinked, "What _are_ you talking about?"

James grinned. He finally had Lily figured out, even though she herself hadn't. "Look, d'you remember when I called you stuck up? I was wrong, you're not. You don't _think_ that you're perfect, you try to be. You_ try_ to shut out all of your natural teenage impulses and become a good, rule abiding robot who just studies and sets a good example."

Lily sighed, "Potter, if you're trying to annoy and offend me, you're doing a good job of it."

James shrugged, "You know I'm right, Evans. That's why you hated me - aside from the Snape problem, I mean. I messed up you're whole aura of perfection thingy. And that's why you were so mad when I was picked as Head boy. But there's much more to you than just that you know."

Lily was starting to get interested in his words now, despite herself. "There is?"

"Yes." James said softly, leaning in towards her in his chair. "There's the part that makes you so special and loved by everyone; your niceness."

Lily looked confused, so James elaborated, "Even though you hated me, you admitted that you were wrong to insult me, remember? In the library? Then, back in Hogsmeade, you helped Snape and made sure that he was alright. Even _after_ he set you up on that train and called you a... you-know-what. _I_ would've just left the git unconscious on the ground had I been in your place. You _actually_ believe that there is some good in everyone, and that's why I…" James hesitated.

_That's why I fell in love with you..._

He had had been about to admit to Lily how he felt about her, but he stopped himself just in time. James didn't think that she reciprocated the feeling, so, instead he said, "That's why you're such a great friend."

For some reason, his description of her rang true, and a voice in Lily's head told her that James knew her better than she did. Her blood was pulsing rapidly from his nearness and from something else which Lily didn't even want to begin to think about.

All she knew was that James's words were sincere, and that the way he said them made her heart race faster than she'd thought was possible. "So, are we friends now?" she whispered.

"You tell me."

Just a few hours ago Lily would have said something along the lines of, "Keep dreaming toerag." But after what James had just said to her she realized something; James may be arrogant, but all of that conceit was a mask which he wore to hide the fairly decent person underneath. Lily had just caught a glimpse of that person, and she knew that she would bear the arrogance forever if it meant that she would be able to see more of him. "Yes, I suppose we are."

James grinned, "Great! And about time too, wouldn't you say Evans?"

Lily couldn't help but grin back, "You're telling me. Now, if you're finished analyzing my personality..."_And I'm done analzing yours_, "Can we get back to organizing these prefect schedules?"

"Diddle, I'd hoped you'd forgotten about them."

Lily laughed, "Keep dreaming toerag, keep dreaming."

*""*

At last the big day had almost arrived, and more than just a few students were anxious about it. The day of the term's first Quidditch match was fast approaching, and it was going to be a very big day for several people, for several different reasons.

It was the day when Sirius would show his brother Regulus who the _real _Quidditch champion of the family was, and it was the day Remus had chosen to tell Geeta about everything; including his friend's illeagal transformations. James was anxious about that day as well; he had decided to tell Lily how he truly felt about her - because he couldn't hold his true feelings in any longer - after the end of the match.

It also happened to be the day Snape had chosen to cast the Imperious curse on Lily, and to use her to carry out the dark deed which he had opted for. He would jinx her right after the Quidditch match while everyone would be distracted. Then he would make her brew the poison that night, and when he was done with her, he would lift the curse, warn her about the mudblood potion (which the evil Mulciber had forced her to make, much to Snape's dismay) and help smuggle her back to the safety of her family.

Yes, the day of the Slytherin vs. Gryffindor match promised to be an eventful one… And it was tomorrow.

*""*

Yeah, you're probably thinking something along the lines of, "First she makes us wait a week, then she gives us _this_?!?!?" Well, I've already written the next chapter, and I think it's much more satisfying than this one. So, please don't abandon this story, 'cause it gets better from here.

Oh, and remember to review =]


	19. The Big Game

Hey guys! Whazzap? Are you ready for the BIG GAME?!?!? Because _here _it IS!!!!

And yes, I _am_ feelin' kind of hyper right now...Partly because this is my new favourite chapter and partly because of the Cadbury toffe bar I just devoured... (As you may have noticed, I'm a bit of a chocoholic =]

*""*

Breakfast in the Great Hall was a usual affair for the Marauders - as well as for most other students at Hogwarts - but that morning, breakfast seemed like a completely foreign practice to all of them. James was so anxious - both about the game and about Lily - that he seemed to have forgotten the function of a fork, and was fiddling with his absently. Then he gave up on his meal and went back to the dorm to wake Peter. Remus was attempting to eat his toast with a spoon as he stole glances of Geeta, and Sirius was ignoring his poor toast all together.

He was just shooting anxious glances down the hall at the Slytherin table, and looking very uncomfortable. When he was in such a state of agitation, the other Marauders knew better than to bother him. Instead, they just waited, knowing that he would divulge his troubles with them before long.

And sure enough, after a few short moments, Sirius turned to his right and said, "Moony, I'm scared."

"Of what?"

"Of…forget it, you'll laugh at me."

"No I won't Padfoot. Why would I laugh at you when you're obviously in need of a friend?"

"Because…well…I'm afraid of losing today's game. There, I said it."

Sirius buried his face in his hands and turned away from his friend; ashamed. He was Quidditch Captain, and as such he was supposed to be feeling full of confidence. But even though he knew that he had a great team, he couldn't help but feel more anxious than he had before any other game.

Remus merely sighed, "Padfoot, that's perfectly normal. Pre-game jitters happen to everyone."

Sirius seemed to consider this, then, speaking through his hands he said, "So being afraid _isn't _some divination-related sign of some impending doom on me, my team, and all around me?"

"Er, no."

Sirius sniffled, and looked up at his friend, "Really?"

"Yes, really."

"Yay! Wait…how would you know? You don't even play Quidditch!"

Remus sighed once more, "Trust me, I _just know_. Alright?"

Sirius grinned, for the first time that morning, "Alright. So, does this mean that you really _do_ have an inner eye? Was our Divination teacher _wrong_ about you having, 'the clairvoyance of a potato?'".

Remus turned slightly red, "Our Divination teacher's wrong about a lot of things, Padfoot. Including the impression that she knows how to teach."

"Why Moony! I'm absolutely scandalized! You, speaking ill of a Professor?"

Remus scowled, "Yeah, well when said Professor has called you a potato, seen a Grim and various other misfortunes in your future on a daily basis, _and_ tried to _put_ you in an unfortunate situation – involving an alligator no less - just so she could justify her predictions…well you've got to draw a line."

Sirius grinned, "Spoken like a true Marauder my friend! Now let's insult the _rest_ of the teachers together! Starting with Whiskers, she's a real -"

"Let's not." Remus said hurriedly interrupting his friend. They were sitting far to close to the professors' table for him to allow this conversation to go any further. "Besides, don't you have a Quidditch game to go and captain?"

Sirius's face fell slightly. "Oh, yeah. I'll go meet the team for our pre-game warm up. See you later, Moony."

"Good luck, Padfoot."

*""*

The Quidditch change rooms were almost unnaturally silent as the Gryffindor team got ready. The tension they were all feeling was almost tangible, and it hung so thickly in the air that the team had to struggle to get ready, taking far longer than they would have otherwise.

When they had all gotten dressed and checked that their brooms were in proper working order, they all assembled on the wooden benches in the center of the change room complex, for their standard pre-game pep talk.

"Alright guys." Sirius began in a quiet voice which carried much farther than it would have on any other day, "Today's the day. Today we get to show those kids who the best bloody team in the school _really_ is. This is the first game of the _season_; our fist shot to make a name for ourselves this year. And, for some of us- " Sirius locked eyes with Geeta and then James, "It's our _last shot_ to leave a great legacy here, as the _best bloody players this school has ever seen!_ So, I ask you, are we ready to go and cream Slytherin?"

Sirius's voice was still quiet and calm, but everyone in the room could feel the passion and energy emanating from him. "Yes!" They shouted in response.

"ARE WE READY TO GO AND CREAM SLYTHERIN?"

"YES!!"

Sirius grinned, "Well then, what are we waiting for?"

With an eruption of thunderously loud cheers from all members of the team, they grabbed their brooms and took off running towards the stadium. All of them, that is, except for James and Sirius.

"That was a great speech mate. Way better than last year's captain."

Sirius shrugged, "It was nothing."

James smiled, but raised an eyebrow, "I'm curious, though. How much of it did Moony help you with?"

Sirius glared, and then in a very offended tone he said, "Don't you have _any_ faith in me? I'm capable of producing good work too, I'll have you know! And I thought you were my friend!"

"Alright, alright!" James said apologetically as he left the change room with his broom, "I'm sorry."

"Not forgiven."

"I'm really sorry?"

"Not good enough."

"I'm really, _really_ sorry,_ and_ I'll give you the Sasharissa Tugwood chocolate frog card you wanted."

"Sasharissa, huh? Hmm...."

James gave Sirius a pleading look, and finally, he said, "Oh, alright, I forgive you" in a dramatic 'if you insist' sort of way.

"Thanks mate."

"Don't worry about it."

Then, just as his friend left the room, Sirius called out to him again, "Oh, and by the way Prongs, Moony wrote _all _of it."

*""*

Madam Hooch stood in the middle of the pitch, and watched as the two team captains - Sirius and Regulus Black – shook hands. Rather than looking at his brother while he did this, Sirius winked at Madam Hooch, who was a very young, athletic and admittedly good looking referee at the time.

She pretended to ignore this, but James noticed that her cheeks were somewhat pinker than usual as she prepared to release the Quaffle.

"Alright, I want I nice, clean game from _all_ of you." She said to both teams, but her eyes lingered on the Slytherins. And with that, she tossed the Quaffle into the air with all of her might, and all the chasers shot after it.

"And the Quaffle is now in position of Slytherin!" Shouted the newly appointed commentator, Anne Worthington. After spending a lot of time around James and Lily, her earlier shyness had faded and in its place there was a confident and loud girl who truly deserved the nickname Thorn, and who wasn't afraid to shout out to the school, "Slytherin Chaser Robin Stilts weaves around Lina Spinnet and passes to Marc Nott…Oh, and it's intercepted by James Potter, who also happens to be Head boy. Potter expertly swerves around the competition, and approaches the goal. He dogdes the bludger, and aims the ball at the third hoop. He pulls back his strong arm to throw the ball and oh no, the keeper's going to block him…but no, James pulled a fake! He shoots for the middle goal instead and…GOAL! GOAL TO GRYFFINDOR! YEAH!"

"Please try not to be biased, Worthington."

"Right, sorry Professor. Anyways, Slytherin is in possession again, Nott narrowly misses a well aimed bludger from the gorgeous Gryffindor Captain, Sirius Black, and passes the quaffle to Stilts, who aims a shot…and oh, the keeper_ just_ missed it. Goal to Slytherin. Now Lina is in possession again, and she streaks down the pitch light lightning; I think James taught her that. She shoots- she SCORES!!! "

Five minutes later, Anne was once again announcing, "GOAL to GRYFFINDOR!" Then in another twenty minutes the score had become 50-20 for Gryffindor. The Slytherin fans began to lose heart, and the Captain was getting desperate. Then, he saw his worst fears confirmed, Geeta was in the middle of a steep dive, and there was a flash of gold just ahead of her.

Regulus decided that the time had come for him to take matters into his own hands. He was to far from Geeta to catch the snitch before she did, but he leaned forward and accelerated towards her anyways. And just before she touched the gold metal ball, he rammed into her side, nearly throwing her off her broom. His fist had been outstretched, so it made contact with her head, and his broom handle passed under hers.

A loud cheer came from the green clad fans in the pitch, and James swore quietly.

"FOUL FOUL from the Slytherin side!!!!!!! The Slytherin seeker deliberately hit the Gryffindor seeker, and I think she's gonna fall off her broom! Her eyes look closed from here…and I think I see some blood! Penalty for Gryffindor! Two penalties! Oh, alright then professor, just one."

James took the penalty, and he scored, but Regulus just shrugged. He didn't really care how many penalties the bloody Gryff's got so long as their Seeker was out of the game. And indeed, Geeta was pretty much out of the game. She wasn't actually bleeding, but her poor head was pounding, and it took all of her focus just to keep from falling off her broom.

And now Regulus was zoning in on the snitch. "Diddle, diddle, diddle, diddle, _bloody diddle_." Sirius swore under his breath. And then he saw it. A bludger was coming his way, and it gave Sirius the perfect opportunity to clobber his brother. All Sirius had to do would be to swing at the bludger as hard as he could, and he'd knock his brother right out of the game. Sirius lifted his bat, closed one eye to better focus on his target; that face which was so like his own, and – stopped. He couldn't do it. Although he would have readily knocked out his brother repeatedly a couple of days ago, now he just couldn't bring himself to hurt him. Sirius dropped his bat, and let the bludger fly past him un-hit.

Lily, who was watching from the stands, didn't notice Sirius's internal battle, or know that it had partly been her and Petunia's fault. What she did see was that Geeta was practically unconscious on her broom, and the Regulus was tailing the snitch with all he had.

Slytherin would likely win the match, and Lily knew that this would hurt many of the people close to her. So, Lily's 'niceness' kicked in, and she decided that she had to do something. But what? Lily looked around the pitch desperately for someone she could encourage, for someone to cheer on, and she saw a familiar head of untidy jet black hair fly past her.

For years after Lily wasn't sure what made her do it. What made her do what she _never_ normally would have done. But, for whatever reason, Lily found herself jumping to her feet and screaming above the crowd, "Come on _James_! Do something you diddle!"

Upon hearing this, James' eyes went wide, and he almost let go of his broom with shock. Not only had she used the word she had sworn to him that she would _never_ use, but she had called him by his first name. _James_. Aw diddle, it sounded so good when she used it.

Do something, she had said. _Do something_…but what? He was a chaser, not a beater. He couldn't knock Regulus off his path, he didn't know how. But…

"And Regulus is finally catching up with the snitch he's been chasing for so long." Anne commented, "It's ascending into the clouds and he's climbing for it…and wait. It that James Potter flying after him? It is! And he's really gaining too... No really, Professor, that's James! I know he's not supposed to be doing that, but he is, and it's not my fault! Anyways, James and Regulus are now neck to neck, there no telling how this match will end. They are both reaching for it… and JAMES GETS THE – wait, why's he throwing it? Er, James throws the snitch down, away from Regulus and…RIGHT INTO THE WAITING HANDS OF GEETA! SHE'S GOT THE SNITCH!!!"

Madam Hooch shook her head at the unexpected events of the match, and blew her whistle to signify the game's end. Then she called out to the crowd as loudly as she could, "Gryffindor win!"

Now, as could be imagined, the Slytherin team was not very happy about this. They screamed, pouted and fussed and declared that James had broken the rules, but the fact remained that there was no rule against a Chaser assisting a Seeker by passing them the snitch. So, the rules were adjusted, but Gryffindor was allowed to keep the victory.

As for the team itself, they flew together and enveloped each other with warm mid-air hugs. They landed as a heap of sweating, happy bodies, and they jubilantly clapped hands with the Slytherins saying, "Good game", to all of them, but not really meaning it. Then, they ran off to get showered and changed, _and_ to prepare for the House party which they knew would be raging in their dorm the moment they got back. James was particularly euphoric, and he got ready with particular vigour. After all, he was going to tell the girl he loved how he felt about her, and he had a feeling that she _just might_ care for him in return.

He quickly showered, got dressed and charged out of the change room with Sirius, ready to party all night long. Then, he saw something which made him stop dead in his tracks. There, waiting right outside of the change room door for him, was Lily. She was standing by herself, holding the strap of the book bag she always wore on her shoulder with one hand, and playing with a strand of her dark red hair with the other. She was looking slightly awkward, as if she wasn't sure what to say, and then she looked up at him, her emerald eyes meeting his, and bit her lip.

To James, she had never looked more beautiful. A sudden rush of emotion washed over him, pride from winning the game, excitement from her calling out his name and most of all, an unstoppable happiness from her just being there, waiting for him. These emotions were so powerful that they just took over James' sense of reason and rationality, and made it hard for him to think clearly. So, he didn't. He just stepped up to Lily, took her face in his hands, and kissed her right on her mouth.

*""*

Alright, I was gonna try and fit the whole ending in one chapter, but that turned out to be diddle near impossible, so there will be at least a few more chapters. Thanks for taking the time to read this, now please take the time to review. It's easy, free and if you act now I'll even include a free invisible thingimabob!

Oh, and I almost forgot! I'm gonna be out of town on Thanksgiving weekend, so I won't be able to update then. Or maybe I'll update as soon as I get back...depends on what I feel like doing.

And for all you non-Canadians reading this, Thanksgiving happens on the second Monday of October here (which is next weekend), not in November =]


	20. Imperio

Wow...for once I've got nothing to say...

*""*

Sirius could hardly believe his eyes. His idiot of a best friend had just kissed Lily Evanson the mouth, and Sirius knew exactly what would happen next; his poor friend James would receive a well deserved slap (or shoe) to the face.

But that was not what happened. Lily's first reaction to the kiss was not to cause James serious bodily harm, but to slide her arms around his neck and pull him closer to her.

Sirius's jaw hit the floor.

Then Lily kissed James back as passionately as he was kissing her, her mouth moving almost as insistently as his was and her fingers tangling in his dark hair.

Sirius pinched himself to check if he was awake, and then felt his forehead to check if he was feeling alright. And frighteningly, he was. So, naturally, he did what any other teenage boy would do in his situation. He called out, "_Well done Prongs_!" and he wolf whistled as loudly as he could without hurting himself.

The rest of the Quidditch team heard him, and ran from the change room excitedly to see what the commotion was about, and several other students also stopped to stare at the couple. Soon a large crowd had formed, including Remus, Peter, and Snape.

James, however, didn't notice. He could sense nothing but Lily, and how much he wanted to be with her forever and ever and ever (Sirius was always telling him that he was too smitten for his own good)

Lily was also enjoying the moment, or at least she was until she heard Sirius shout. His shout woke her from the blissful surrender of thoughts she had been enjoying with James, and then the enormity of what she was doing hit her with full force. She, _Lily Evans_ was kissing _Potter._ As in _James - _I will never fall for you no matter what happens because you are an arrogant toerag_ - Potter_.

Lily instantly broke the kiss and jumped back from James as if he was made of fire and she was afraid of burning herself. Unable to look him in the eyes, she looked at the floor as she whispered, "I'm sorry…". Then she spun around and fled as fast as her legs could carry her, leaving James in an even bigger mess of emotions than he had started with.

Lily didn't stop running until she was on the opposite side of the grounds of James and the rest of the crowd. She ran until she was completely out of breath, and then she collapsed underneath her favourite oak tree on the edge of the Black Lake.

She curled up in her favourite spot; the comfortable nook created between two large roots and then, only then, did she allow herself the think about what had happened.

Not only had she let James kiss her, but she had kissed him back and…she'd _enjoyed_ it. A lot. So much that even now it took her a great deal of will power to keep from turning around and running right back to him.

How had this happened? Lily had told herself that she'd always hate Potter. And she had! It had been so easy before…

But now, for the life of her, Lily couldn't figure out _why_ she'd hated him. Sure he had flaws like arrogance and laziness…but to be honest Lily now found herself loving his flaws - not to mention the rest of him - and hating herself for it. As much as she wanted to believe that James was still nothing but a toerag to her, she knew that it wasn't true. She was in love with James Potter, and there was _nothing_ she could do about it.

After all, she couldn't very well run up to him and tell him the truth, not after all she'd done and said to him. Besides, after what she'd just done; running away from him, hurting him and embarrassing him, he probably hated her. And she was supposed to hate him.

It all became too much for Lily; she had ruined _everything_. She buried her face in her arms and let the tears she'd been holding back flow freely. She didn't know how long she spent sitting there, but by the time she'd calmed down, the sun was setting. The sky was painted a pale orange framed with dark violet clouds, and the deep scarlet sun was setting into the Black lake. Lily watched the sky slowly change colours before her eyes, and it calmed her down. Then she noticed a tiny speck on the horizon. It grew bigger and bigger, until Lily could make out that it was an owl carrying a little letter. And it wasn't just any owl…it was her owl, Merlin.

Lily blinked hard, not quite believing her tear filled eyes; she had left her owl with Petunia the day she'd left, and instructed him to come to her with no letter but Petunia's. Which meant….

"Merlin! Merlin! Come here! No, you can go to the Owlery in a minute, just come here for a second first!"

Lily's owl dutifully flew over to her, and landed on her outstretched arm. Lily quickly stroked his feathers and let him nip her fingers affectionately before removing his letter apprehensively.

She instantly recognized the neat script on the outside of the letter as her sisters, and then she hastily tore the letter open.

Inside she saw the letter she had left with her sister back on September first:

_Dear Petunia,_

_I've left for my last year of school, and after this I'll be off to live on my own and find myself a job. But Tuney, that doesn't mean that you can just forget me. _

_How could you let our differences come between us? You know what I'm talking about. How can you start to hate me, the girl who you grew up with and who learned everything from you? How can you hate your Lily?_

_I know that we have stopped talking and even caring about each other, but we can never stop being sisters. So, I've left my owl, Merlin, behind with you, so please please, write to me. I love you Tuney, and I always will._

_Lily._

Lily felt a bitter disappointment well up inside of her as she read; her sister had just returned the letter unanswered. She groaned and threw the letter away from herself in disgust. But when she threw it, a light fall breeze blew it up and around, and Lily saw that there was writing on the other side of the letter that hadn't been there before. Snatching the paper back from the air, Lily began to read:

_Lily_

_Why are you always so emotional and dramatic? Honestly, all sisters fight and none of them take things to heart like you do. _

_I don't hate you. I never did. I __was__ jealous at first, I admit; you were always the special one who was oh so smart and pretty and you even had bloody powers, and __I__ was the plain older sister who was always overlooked. It hurt me, so I tried to hurt you. And then when I succeeded and I saw you cry, it hurt me even more. I know that that's my fault, and that I'm a horrible person, but I still blame you for the hurt. I blame you for __making__ me hurt you. I know that I'm probably mad, but that's the way I see things, and I will never forgive you for causing so much hurt._

_And that hurts me even more. The knowledge that this is all in my head, and that I'm the only thing stopping us from being a bloody perfect family. Lily, if you ever learn __anything__ from me, let it be that holding on to old hates doesn't help anyone. Please do what I can't, and always let go. Forgive and be the better person for it. _

_Also, don't be like me and hurt the people you love. Don't run away from them and try to avoid them, because then they will never know that you care. I guess what I'm trying to say is…I love you Lily. I always have._

_Petunia_

Lily read the letter three times over, once normally, once to try and better understand what her sister really felt towards her, and one last time to really learn the lessons her sister was trying to teach her.

Forgiveness, letting go of old hatred and never hiding your love for others. To Lily, all of the lessons seemed to point towards one person – other than Petunia – and suddenly she knew exactly what she had to do.

Folding the letter carefully and putting it in her book bag, Lily whispered, "Thanks Tuney", to the wind and started running towards the castle. She ran as fast as she could, completely oblivious to the dark figures who were hiding behind the trees watching her. So, she was taken completely by surprise when she was hit with a freezing spell and knocked over, flat on her face.

Then, much to Lily's surprise, the freezing spell lifted, but it was almost instantly replaced by another curse which Lily had never experienced before.

But whatever it was, it couldn't be all bad. Suddenly Lily was only dimly aware of where she was and where she had been going. It had all washed away and been replaced by a groundless but wonderful feeling of bliss. Lily felt as if she were floating happily and without a care in the world. Then, she heard a voice coming from somewhere inside her head:

_Get up…get up now._

Lily stood up and brushed herself off, and Mulciber and Snape emerged from the trees, the former exclaiming, "You did it Prince!"

"Was there ever any doubt?" Snape asked coolly.

Mulciber frowned, "That you could cast the Imperious curse, no. That you would be able to carry out the deed, yes."

"Well doubt me no longer, because I'm going to take her down to the dungeons to brew the bloody thing right now."

Mulciber nodded, "You had better." And then he took off on his own to attend dinner in the Great Hall.

Snape watched his friend go, and then turned to Lily. She was staring blankly at the sunset, without moving. So, Snape gave her a command:

_Go to the dungeons_

Lily had been about to do just that, when another voice in the barely conscious part of her head said, 'No, I won't. I have no reason to go to the dungeons.'

_Go to the dungeons_

'_No_, I won't. I have something far more _important_ to do', said the voice in Lily's head. But for the life of her she couldn't remember what it was...

_GO, GO RIGHT NOW!!!_

Lily couldn't resist the spell, she wasn't sure how, so she started walking in the direction of the dungeons.

Snape exulted in his victory over her mind; he now had full control and could make her do anything. She would, in the words of Mulciber, serve him like a silver platter. Everything was going according to plan.

Snape tailed Lily, staying in the shadows to ensure that no one would see him, and soon they were back in the castle. Once there, though, he encountered an unforeseen difficulty. James Potter was standing by the door to the grand staircase, and blocking the way. He had, apparently, been waiting for Lily. Snape rolled his eyes. This was just bloody _perfect_, he'd have to use Lily to get James to leave off.

Wait…perhaps this _was_ a good thing…he had full control of Lily, and he could use her to rip the git's heart to pieces. She _was_ his silver platter after all.

Snape's lips curved into a slow smile as he ducked out of sight behind a statue of a lion and made Lily approach James.

*""*

So, as you can see, I updated while on vacation. Be thankful =]

Now, there will be about two more chapters, so stay tuned!


	21. To Find her or Not to Find Her

Can you believe that there's only one chapter left after this one? I mean diddle, I'm almost saddened by the thought! Almost.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter, It's got a little Marauders, lots of Snape (who is actually pretty fun to write), and of course, plenty of James and Lily.

*""*

"Lily! There you are, I've been looking all over for you!" James exclaimed as Lily walked up to him. She had an odd, blank sort of look on her face, but she did stop and turn to face him.

"You have have you?" She asked in an indifferent tone.

James could only assume that she was angry at him, so he replied, "Look, Lily – "

"It's Evans to you."

"But Lily –"

At this Lily began to walk past James with her head held high and a look of cold distain. James stopped her by calling her back in a desperate tone, "Wait! Just listen to me, _please_… I didn't mean to do what I did after the game, it was a complete accident and I'm really, _really_ sorry. Can we _please_ go back to the way things were before?"

Snape, who was still controlling Lily from behind a statue, could tell from James's sincere tone and imploring looks that he really did care for Lily. And that if Lily shunned him now, James would probably never recover from the heart break.

Snape could almost picture what James would look like…always dejected and miserable. His arrogance would be gone forever. It made Snape realize that having control of Lily was almost as good as having control of them both. But as Snape tried to make Lily say the words he wanted her to, she began to fight harder than she had before, desperate to avoid saying the words that would hurt James.

_Say it._

_Go on, __say__ it...SAY IT NOW!_

Meanwhile James was still looking pleadingly at Lily, trying to read her face for signs of her feelings towards him.

She seemed to be in the midst of an internal struggle, as if she were trying to scowl at him but couldn't bring herself to do it. Then, for a moment, the slightly blank and cold look in her eyes disappeared, and she gave him an almost affectionate look…but that was instantly quelled, and replaced with a look that pierced James's heart.

"Before? Potter, I hated you then, I hate you now, and I will hate you for as long as I live. Now get out of my way, _toerag_."

She left without looking back, and James stared after her, dazed. What the bloody diddle had just happened? She had just _denied_ that they had ever been friends. Just days ago they had been laughing together and just that day she had cheered for him during the match...and now she was proclaiming that she had always hated him? Something didn't add up.

_She's really mad at you mate. Maybe that's clouded her memory?_

James shook his head at the thought. He knew Lily, and he knew that she never said anything she didn't mean. She also wouldn't use her words to wound anyone, even if she was mad at them. Something was definitely wrong.

_Yeah something's wrong you diddle. It's you. You're just making up excuses for yourself. The truth is that she hates your guts again, and you've got no one to blame but yourself._

James let out a sigh. He had messed up, big time. He had ruined everything. James aimed a kick at a crack in the stone floor to let out some steam, and then he noticed Snape skulking past him through the shadows with a smug smirk on his pale face.

"Where did you come from, Snivellous?" James asked in an icy tone, "Been out jinxing fist years?"

As Lily wasn't around – and she probably wouldn't be for a long time – James didn't bother being polite to the snake. Besides, James was in too foul a mood to want to try and be nice. He had_ tried_ being as nice to everyone as Lily was, but it was diddle near impossible when it came to Snape. Anyways, if James _didn't_ say something rude first , then Sinvellous definately _would_.

But Snape didn't bother giving James the scathing reply he had expected. He merely gave James a mocking smile and continued on past him.

_What the diddle?_

*""*

She was late.

James checked his watch one last time to confirm that it was, in fact, one minute past midnight, and it was. James sighed heavily; Lily Evans was never late, so she probably just wasn't going to show up to do the patrol with him. She hated him so much that she was even going to go back on her word and skip her duties.

James felt so hurt that he almost didn't dare to hope that things would be alright between them again. Still, he couldn't stop the tiny voice in his head from saying, _Lily doesn't skip her duties __no matter what__. You know her; she's to diddle good for that. She wouldn't just miss the patrol, even if she was mad at you._

James didn't allow himself to hope. Another voice in his head argued, _'She's not just mad this time, she's furious. She hates me so much that she can't stand being near me.'_

_You know that's not true, you idiot. She can't just undo the last few months. Just go find her, and talk to her._

_'Didn't you hear her? She __hates__ me. Just talking won't change that.'_

_Talk to her__._

_'I will __not__…wait. I'm arguing with myself…in my_ _head_. _Aw diddle, Lily's finally driven me mad! Oh well, it was bound to happen one day…'_

James shook his head at his own pointless thoughts, and then began to trudge up the grand staircase to the Gryffindor tower. He marched right through the Quidditch victory party that was still raging in his common room, ignored all of the odd and curious looks he was attracting, and slogged into his dorm.

Moments later he was joined by all three Marauders who had been enjoying the wild party until they had seen their miserable friend, and decided that he needed them more than the party did.

Without a word, Sirius walked up to James and made the shape of a barking dog with his hand. Peter twitched his nose like a rat's in response, and Remus let out a low howl. Then they climbed onto James's bed beside him and waited silently for him to make the final sign needed to start an official Marauder meeting.

James ignored them, but when Remus nudged him and said, "Go on" in a quiet tone, James made the shape of a deer with his hand. "Alright, what's the meeting for." James asked sullenly.

Remus and Sirius exchanged a look, and then Sirius said, "Look, mate, we just wanted to say…that we're sorry about Evans. We know that you're really upset, and we just wanted you to know that we're here for you."

Remus and Peter nodded earnestly and James had to smile. He really had the best friends in the world; what other guys comforted their friends after relationship problems? It was usually the sort of thing guys avoided for the sake of their good reputations, but here his friends were doing it anyways, just for him.

"Thanks guys, but you don't understand. It's not just the kiss thing that's bothering me."

"What, did she _slap_ you afterwards?" Peter asked in a rather un-sympathetic tone.

James sighed, "No."

"Then what happened, Prongs?" Sirius asked, after giving Peter a sharp look.

"Well I went to find her after the kiss, you know, to apologize for doing it, and she told me that she always had, and always would hate me. Then she left, and she didn't even show up for the patrol."

Sirius nodded with empathy, but Remus got a funny look. "Wait…did you say that she…_didn't show up for a patrol_?"

James nodded.

Remus looked up at James, his ice blue eyes full of urgency, "Lily wouldn't skip a patrol unless she had a _diddle_ good reason to. And Geeta said that she hadn't seen her since the game...Prongs, you have to go find her."

James said nothing, so Remus put a hand on his shoulder, "_James_. Go talk to her."

Still saying nothing, James got off of the bed, picked up his bag and left the dorm. But before he closed the door behind him, he turned around and said, "Thanks guys." And he meant it.

After James left, Sirius turned to Remus and said, "Wow Moony, I'm impressed! Is there no end to your hidden talents? I mean, this morning you developed an inner eye, and now you're a girl expert?"

Remus grinned, "What can I say; I'm just awesome that way. Have you forgotten how I charmed Geeta back at Hogsmeade?"

Sirius cocked an eyebrow, "Well, actually, the way she tells it, she kept on dropping hints that she liked you but you never caught on…so she just jumped at you and snogged you instead.

Remus coloured deeply, and Peter and Sirius laughed until Remus had to join in. Had they know what their unfortunate friend was about to go and witness, their laughter would have died on their lips.

*""*

Several heads turned to stare as James walked back through the crowd of partying Gryffindors, but he didn't care. He was too busy pulling a rather crumpled bit of parchment from his book bag. Then, after he had left the common room, and was standing in the empty hallway outside of the Gryffindor tower, he tapped the parchment with his wand and whispered, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

The effect of his words was instantaneous, and lines began to spread from the center of the parchment, covering it with words and diagrams. The Marauders map, for the parchment was indeed the map, was soon fully formed, but James didn't pause to marvel at it's beauty. Instead he scanned it's folds anxiously for the name Lily Evans. He searched the Gryffindor common room and dorms, then her favourite places like the big oak tree by the lake, the library, Hagrid's Hut, the Owlery and the Transfiguration courtyard. Then, when she didn't turn up, James searched the rest of the castle, growing more uneasy by the second. Finally, after he had all but given up, he found her in the unlikeliest of places; the spare potions lab in the dungeons. And then James noticed something even stranger. She was all alone except for - "What the diddle?"

The dot labeled Lily Evans was right beside a second dot, and that dot was labeled Severus Snape.

Needless to say, James pulled his invisibility cloak out of his bag, and took off running in the direction of the dungeons as fast as his legs could carry him.

*""*

Using Lily to convince Professor Slughorn that she needed acromantula venom for some extra credit project she wanted to complete was only too easy for a master manipulator like Snape. Breaking into the spare potions lab had been even easier. And now that the mudblood potion was almost half brewed, Snape started to breathe a little easier.

At first Snape had controlled Lily from inside the spacious ingredients cabinet, so that if anyone happened to walk in, he wouldn't be seen and he wouldn't get caught. But as Snape heard the clock strike eleven he grew more confident that no one would find them, so he stood beside her and followed some of the instructions with her.

It was at about this time that James reached the dungeons. Pulling on his invisibility cloak, he peeked into the potions lab and saw Lily and Snape sitting close to each other, brewing a potion of some sort together. They were both silent as they worked, and betraying no signs of emotion, which was normal for Snape, but for Lily it was diddle near unheard of.

But there she was, working beside Snape with a completety blank expression on her face. What the bloody diddle was going on?

James slipped silently into the room – still wearing his invisibility cloak, and tried to get a closer look at the two, and that was when he noticed the sheet of potion instructions that they were following. It was entitled "The Mudblood Potion", which James had never heard of.

James also noticed that Lily was almost struggling not to follow the potions instructions. She lifted a vial of a transparent purple substance and tried to pour it into the bubbling cauldron in front of her, but then her hand started pulling back to put the vial back on the table. Then she lifted the vial again, but her hand simply wouldn't turn and pour it's contents into the cauldron.

"Go on, mix in the venom!" Snape muttered in a irritated voice. He jabbed his wand at Lily, and she poured the purple substance into the cauldron with a sudden jerk of her hand.

And that was the final piece of the puzzle James needed to figure out what was happening. In that moment everything became clear to James, and he realized that he had to act, and _fast_.

*""*

Ah, another cliffhanger! I know you're probably very angry at your computer screen right now, but do remember that this is the very last time this is gonna happen; the next chapter will be the last one, and it was also the diddle hardest to write! I wanted it to be absolutely perfect, and tie everything off nicely, but as usual that didn't work out... Still, it tied up _most_ of the loose ends, and I rather like it =] So, why don't you finish what you've started and check back a week from now for the final chapter!


	22. Madness

Well, this is it! I was so worried while writing this, I just kept worrying about whether or not it would be able to end the whole story nicely. And then I was even more nervous about posting it...but here it is.

Oh, and before you continue, I'd just like to take this oppourtunity to thank you for sticking with me. You're the best, so rock on!

*""*

And that was the final piece of the puzzle James needed to figure out what was happening. In that moment everything became clear to James, and he realized that he had to act, and _fast_.

Too angry to think of the consequences, he threw off his invisibility cloak, pointed his wand at Snape and bellowed, "_Stupefy_!"

Snape's eyes went wide in horror and shock as he was blasted off his feet and onto the dungeon floor. He landed right beside the base of the large cauldron he had been working at, almost colliding with it, but swerving out of the way at the last second desperately. He couldn't afford to spill or ruin it; too much depended on the potion going well.

He also couldn't afford to let James find out about Lily. So, he stood up slowly, brushed himself off and said in a carefully controlled voice, "Problem, Potter?"

In response James fired a silent spell at Snape - which he blocked - and shouted, "Problem? PROBLEM! You used the Imperious curse on her, and you're forcing her to brew a potion that will _kill_ her…you (here James used a swear word which was _far_ worse than diddle) _How could you_?"

Snape considered the question, and realized that he could probably use it to gain James's sympathy. If James was as compassionate as he thought he was, then Snape could easily manipulate him. After all, it had worked _so_ easily on Lily…

"How could I? I _had_ to! James you don't understand…there was no other way! If I didn't do it, then You Know Who'd have forced someone else to. And if I didn't do it... he'd kill me."

"So you'd rather be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent muggleborn students than risk your own skin? Blimey, I knew you were a coward, but I didn't think you were _this_ bad." James spat scathingly.

"Don't call me a coward." Snape said in a deathly quiet voice.

James gave Snape a disgusted look, "What, do you think this is _brave_? You won't even risk _brewing_ the diddle thing yourself because you're afraid of getting caught. Coward."

Snape furiously slashed at James with his wand, and his spell hit James with all the force of a steam engine causing him to double over. "DON'T CALL ME A COWARD!"

As James forced himself upright, Snape realized that time was running out. The potion would have to be completed before midnight or it would be completely useless. He began to send Lily orders as rapidly as he could:

_Stroke the fire_

_Stir it clockwise_

_Put in the ground droxy teeth_

_DO IT!!! _

Lily's hand opened and dropped the ground teeth into the potion. Her face was contorted into a mask of frustration; she could feel Snape's hold on her slowly breaking…Snape's concentration was divided between controlling her and dueling James, and if Snape focused just the tiniest bit more on James than on Lily, she knew that she would be able to break him.

_Come on James! Do something you diddle…_

Meanwhile Snape was feeling incredibly tired; it was difficult for even a qualified Death Eater to duel while casting the Imperious curse on someone, let alone a seventeen year old. And, James was a particularly good opponent.

He fired a silent _Rictersempra_ at him, but the blasted boy blocked and retaliated with a spell that made Snape's legs feel like jelly, and made it hard for him to stand.

Snape muttered the counter curse and prepared to hex James into oblivion, but then he heard the hissing sound of black steam rising from the cauldron Lily was working at.

And that sound could mean only one thing; the potion was nearly complete. There was only one more ingredient that needed to be added. A strand of mudblood hair.

_Add a strand of your hair._

Lily resisted with all she had, because in some conscious part of her mind she knew that horrible things would happen if she finished the potion.

_Add a strand of your hair._

It was then that Snape finally started to panic; time was rapidly running out. He had only five minutes until midnight, and Lily was not cooperating at all.

_RIP OUT ONE OF YOUR BLOODY HAIRS AND DUMP IT IN THE CAULDRON! NOW!_

Lily wouldn't do it. In desperation Snape fired a wild curse at James to distract him and then turned to take one of Lily's hairs by force. Regrettably for him, the jinx he aimed at James went nowhere near his target, so the latter was able to hit Snape with a strong _Stupefy_ from behind. Snape stumbled and fell before he could reach Lily. "No!"

Blinded by his anger at James for ruining everything, Snape then jumped to his feet, whirled on his enemy and shouted, "_CRUCIO!!!!_"

James fell to the ground writhing in pain once more. The world faded into red. Everything was red; James could see nothing else. He felt a thousand white hot needles digging through his flesh and tearing him to pieces, and then the red became black…

Snape stood above the unconscious James, triumphant. He had won.

But in his victory he had forgotten one small detail: Lily.

Casting the Cruciatus curse took_ all_ of one's concentration, and the moment he had cast it, Lily had forced her mind free of his grasp.

Unfortunately, Snape noticed this just a moment to late. When he realized his mistake and turned around to check on her, Lily's wand was already aimed at his head.

Snape gulped and said, "Lily…" But she didn't wait for an apology.

"It's Evans to you, _Snivellous_" she growled, her voice dripping with an uncharacteristic menace. And she jinxed him out cold.

*""*

The clock tower's bells had already echoed loudly through the castle to inform the residents that it was officially midnight when James finally regained consciousness.

At first he was confused, and had no idea where he was. Then he realized that he was in the spare potions room for some reason, and that his head was resting on his own book bag instead of on his pillow.

Slowly, James sat up, and as he did he became aware of the fact that he was feeling sore all over. Why?

He scanned the room curiously and noticed that it was a complete mess; potion bottles and ingredients were scattered everywhere as if there had been a recent scuffle in it of some kind. That was when he saw Lily. She was facing away from him and shelving some potions ingredients away neatly.

The sight of her caused the memory of all that had happened to hit him like a wall. The Mudblood potion. The Imperious curse. And then Snape had used the Cruciatus curse to torture him unconscious…but what had happened after that? Had the potion been completed? Where was Snape? Could he…could he be controlling Lily still?

He had to do something!

James started to get up, but as he did his foot slipped on one of the small glass vials which littered the ground, and he fell back down with a crash and the sound of tinkling glass. The sudden noise pierced the night and completely startled Lily.

She jumped in suprise and was instantly kneeling by his side.

James looked up at her and saw that she was wearing a very worried expression so he said, "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you, I slipped."

But Lily didn't seem to listen. "James?" she whispered in a quiet apprehensive voice.

"Yes…what is –" But James was cut off by Lily threading her fingers through his dark hair and pressing her lips to his.

James was paralyzed with shock for about two seconds, then he kissed her back earnestly, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her down into his lap.

For Lily, kissing James was even better than she had remembered it. She kissed him with unrestrained emotion and let all of the impulse and feelings she usually repressed, out. She kissed him impatiently, her mouth moving longingly against his, and he responded by kissing her all the more passionately.

All too soon they were obligated to break apart, and for a moment they just sat perfectly still, gazing into each other's eyes.

All that could be heard was their quiet breathing, until Lily finally broke the silence by whispering, "James, I think I love you…have I gone crazy?"

James chuckled and held her close to him stroking her hair, "Lily, if that's what being crazy is, then I've been crazy for the last seven years."

Lily laughed and said, "So you weren't_ born_ mad?"

"_Ha ha_, just insult the person who's lap you're sitting in why don't you." James muttered pretending to sulk. "But what I was _trying_ to say was…Lily, I love you too."

Lily could't help but blush, then she smiled, got to her feet and held her hand out to James.

He took it, and as he got up he said, "By the way, Lily, what happened to Snape and the potion?"

She filled him in on all he had missed, mentioning how she had broken the imperious curse, how she had jinxed Snape unconcious, how when he woke up he confessed to everything because he had wanted her forgiveness which she gave - granted that he promised never to bother her again, and how she had destroyed the instructions for the mudblood potion soon after that. There was only ever that one copy of them.

By the time she had finished, the clock was striking again, this time to announce that it was twelve thirty.

"Oh diddle! James we're really not supposed to be here!" Lily exclaimed when she realized how late it was. Then she quickly vanished the contents of the cauldron and began walking briskly out of the room, and in the direction of the Gryffindor tower.

"Come on Lily, we're Heads. We can be wherever we want whenever we want!" James argued as he followed her through the stone halls of Hogwarts.

"_No_, James, we have to follow the rules just like everyone else. Besides, I thought you were going to be a good student this year. I mean you said so yourself."

James smirked, "That was just part of my plan to win you over, Lily! Did you honestly think that I'd become a goody two shoes just like that?"

Lily went slightly red, and was about make an angry comment when James put an arm around her shoulders, "I'm only joking Lily."

Lily's anger instantly evapourated and left a sly grin in it's place, "I knew that. It's just _so_ easy to trick you."

James blinked, "Since when do _you_ trick people? I thought you were too nice and innocent for that!"

"There's _a lot_ you don't know about me, James. Like the fact that I only pretended to eat those five pepper imps; I only ate two and faked the rest. "

"But…_why_? _Why_?" James asked, remembering the horrible pain he had suffered.

Lily shrugged, "I wanted to see if you would really eat _five_ of the diddle things for me."

James slowly turned to face her and said, "Lily, you are the most conniving little didd-"

James froze in the middle of his sentence, and looked up at the hallway in front of him, shocked. Lily looked up too, and she almost jumped when she saw the headmaster of the school walking towards them with a knowing smile on his face.

"Professor Dumbledore! We were just…" Lily trailed off, and James finished the sentence for her, "We were just finishing our…patrol."

Dumbledore stopped in front of them and his smile widened, "You don't _have_ patrol duty tonight Mr. Potter."

Lily gulped and said, "Professor, I'm terribly sorry that we're out here but –" Here Dumbledore held up his hand to stop her.

"Miss Evans, Mr. Potter, there is no need to explain yourselves. Now, as I know that tonight was a _very _big night for you both, you shall not be punished. But please, do not let this happen again. Do I make myself clear?"

"Perfectly sir."

Dumbledore nodded, "Good. Then I'll just be on my way." And he continued walking to his office and left Lily and James to shrug and enjoy their trip back to the dorms together.

Meanwhile, Dumbledore walked on, and as he did, he began to sing softly to himself:

_Hey diddle diddle_

_The cat sang the fiddle_

_The cow jumped right at the moon_

_The big black dog laughed to see such fun_

_And the dish fell in love with the spoon…_

He had just finished singing and was beginning again when he passed Professor McGonagall in the hall. She stopped to stare at him curiously before asking, "Albus, _why_ do you keep on singing that particular nursery rhyme? And why have you changed the words?"

At this Dumbledore began to look slightly confused, "Nursery rhyme? I was just going over some of the main events of the past few months, surely _you_ can recall them. Goodnight Minerva."

And as she watched him walk happily off to his office, Professor McGonagall smiled and wondered to herself where the madness ended and the brilliance began.

THE END

So, there you have it! That's the big finish that you and I've been waiting for for so long...

Now, hopefully you understood what Dumbledore meant about the nursery rhyme really being a short summary of the story, and it's all making sense to you now.

You realize why James's first attempt at a patronous is a _spoon_, why Geeta's called _cow_, why the Marauder's pulled that _particular_ prank on _Whiskers_ and why Snape and Mulciber keep referring to Lily as a silver _platte_r (AKA _dish_). The names _Moon_y and_Padfoot_ should also ring bells.

If you don't get it, please let me know in your review, and if you do, please review anyways to let me know what you thought about reading an entire story based on a nursery rhyme.

Macawtopia =]

_P.S._ -In case you were wondering, Snape lied to Mulciber and said that Lily overpowered him on her own. He said that Lily burnt the instructions before he could stop her, and that he was very sorry. Mulciber was, naturally, furious, but he wasn't as furious as his father was at him, or as furious as Voldy was at his father.

Mulciber Senior got all the blame, and was demoted, while his son and Snape were given second chances. All they had to do was commit a few minor murders and then they were given the coveted snake tatoo, er... I mean, dark mark.

As for James and Lily, they never were a fairytale couple who spent all their time adoring each other. They still argued, bantered, laughed and did everything they used to. The only real difference was that they were both a lot happier, and when it came down to it, they loved each other.


	23. Bonus Scene and Sequel

Hello! This chapter is not a chapter. Well, technically it sorta is, but in reality, it is not.

What it is, is both a short scene which I deleted from HDD, and a short preview of the sequel I said I wouldn't write but am writing anyways. I hope you enjoy them =]

The bonus scene was supposed to take place before the big quidditch match, and then... well, just read it!

*""*

As he sat in his dorm, pretending to be working on an essay, James found that he just couldn't focus. The first Quidditch match of the season was going to take place in just a few hours, and James could think of nothing else. Well almost nothing else:

No matter how hard he tried to focus on his potions essay or on even on the big match, the image of a certain red head popped up in his head to distract him. Drumming his fingers on his desk with irritation at his lack of progress, James looked away from the blank page that was his essay and into the small hand mirror next to it. Lifting the glass, James examined his reflection appraisingly. He found himself looking much the same as he always did with a thin face, jet black hair that just refused to stay neat, expressive hazel eyes and round glasses.

In short, his appearance was no more impressive than usual, so James began struggling to get his hair lying flat. He had been at it for a while when he heard a familiar chuckling.

"Sirius?"

For a moment the mirror clouded over, and then James's best friend's laughing face appeared in the glass.

"Prongs- trying to fix your hair- aw gold! What possessed you mate?" Sirius was shaking from laughter in the other end of the enchanted mirror, and James was getting rather annoyed, "Padfoot…exactly _how_ long were you watching me?"

Sirius smiled innocently, "For the past half hour or so, why?"

"Didn't you have anything better to do!"

Sirius looked pensive for a moment, then he grinned evilly, "Nope, watching _that_ was definitely the most amusing activity for me to do by _far_. Aw that was hilarious, Spoons! You'd push some hair back, then some more and the first batch of hair would spring back up again! Then the second would pop up while you fixed the first bit! What exactly is your hair made of, mate?"

James sighed and decided to change the subject, "Forget my hair; shouldn't you be preparing for the big game, _Captain_? It's in, what, an hour?"

"That's why I mirrored you actually, Prongs. To tell you to meet me down at the pitch."

"Alright I'm com- wait…did you just say…mirrored?"

"Yeah…you know, it's like, to phone and phoned, to talk and talked and –"

"To mirror and mirrored?"

"Exactly!"

"Mate, mirror isn't a verb."

Sirius grinned, "Ah, but then what are we doing right now?"

"Talking?"

"No! We're _mirroring_!"

"Well, yes, but..." James sighed, knowing that arguing would be pointless, "I'll go meet you down at the pitch then."

"See you there, Prongs. Now, what do muggles say here? Left and Right? Side to side? Up and down? Round and round?"

"Over and out?"

"Oh yeah…Over and out."

*""*

Now, to prove that I'm a complete and utter hypocrite, here is an excerpt of the sequel to HDD I vowed I'd never write. So, please read on…

*""*

James walked down the dungeon hallway with no inkling of where he was going or why. He just needed to get away from everything; to try and vent some steam. He was so caught up in his own thoughts that he didn't notice the dark figure ahead of him until they were only meters apart. It was Snape, and he stood still in front of James, blocking his way. He had, apparantly, been waiting for him.

"What do you want, Snape?" James asked, fixing the Slytherin boy with a tired but contemptuous glare.

But Snape only shrugged , "Nothing really, Potter. I was just watching you enjoy your well deserved misery."

James frowned, narrowing his eyes, "_I'm_ not the miserable one."

His tone was challenging, but Snape only shrugged once more, "If you say so. But don't worry, Potter, if you're not miserable now, you soon will be."

"And why, pray tell, is that?"

At that, Snape's mouth twisted up into a smirk. "Don't you know? Well then, I suppose I'll have to _enlighten_ you." he began, speaking slowly, "First of all, you've grown to hate one of your best friends, and you've forced the second one to choose between the two of you. As for the last so-called _friend_... well, you never really _did_ care about the last did you? Your little dream team just isn't as glorious as it used to be, I'm afraid, and without them, Potter, you're _nothing_. And one of these days dear Lily's going to realize that, and leave you all alone."

Snape paused to let his words sink in, and then gave James a malicious smile, "Your time is over, Potter. You're over."


End file.
